How to get rid of a mattress in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Companies that come to your home and carry the mattress out, so you need no vehicle. The prices below are starting prices unless stated — stairs, box springs and extra items add to them.

Most charities will not take a used mattress. These are the ones we checked, including the ones that say no.

• The Salvation Army (satruck.org): accepted-items list includes 'Mattresses' and beds; also says local ordinances and need vary by location and to call 1-800-SA-TRUCK to confirm what a local center accepts. Source
• Doesn’t take mattresses. Habitat for Humanity national ReStore guide: 'Mattresses and box springs are not accepted.' Source

Policies vary by branch. Call before you carry one over — we asked each of the big three directly: Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity.

• County operates Black Butte at 3710 Springhill Road, Mount Shasta, and Oberlin Road at 2420 Oberlin Road, Yreka. Shared directory separately names Happy Camp, Tulelake and Salmon River collection stops with other operators. Source
• County guidance makes mattresses and box springs free up to two daily; MRC Black Butte and Oberlin cards list six. Garbage minimum is separately $7; uncovered loads incur an unspecified penalty. Mixed materials must be separated. Source
• Page says the $60 minimum applies to all loads while also listing qualifying source-separated mattress units at no charge. Both statements retained. Source
• Primary location page gives 12305 Shale Ridge Lane, Auburn CA 95602 and transfer hours daily 8am–4:45pm; credit cards/checks only. Mattress acceptance is absent from this page. Existing MRC staging and operator homepage carpet news use Shale Ridge Road. Source
• Vallejo offers four annual free single-family bulky pickups; multifamily gets one for the entire complex arranged by manager; commercial pickup costs extra. Mattress and box spring listed. Residential allowance: two cubic yards plus three large items, each within 3ft depth x 3ft height x 6ft length and under 100lb; itemized advance list required. Source
• Vallejo primary BOPA page closes at 3:30pm Thursday–Saturday; preserved MRC staging record 59c09305c1152406518c54b0 lists 4pm. Primary cap is up to five mattresses/box springs without a limit period; MRC says five per vehicle per day. Source
• Vacaville row lists ZIP 95688 and Saturday closing 4pm, conflicting with saved inv57 primary facility evidence (95687 and 3pm). Mountain View row ZIP 95050 and two-unit limit are directory claims; existing primary appointment/residency policy still controls research notes. Source
• County Ramshorn address/city/hours and Loyalton ZIP differ from MRC table; MRC names three additional seasonal mattress sites while county page names only Ramshorn and Loyalton. Source
• Page permits up to five mattresses without appointment yet requests appointments 48 hours ahead for 5+ mattresses, leaving exactly five ambiguous. Oakland MRC hours Tue–Sat 10am–4pm differ from operator Mon–Sat 9am–4pm. Source
• Primary receiving address has 11002; MRC commercial table has 1102 Bee Canyon Access Rd. Source
• Willits location block and footer give 351 Franklin Avenue, but FAQ gives 350 Franklin Avenue. Existing MRC staging uses 351. Operator phone is 707-459-4845; commercial-directory lead has 707-489-4845 and Monday–Friday hours. Source
• Ukiah main location block states Monday–Saturday 8am–4pm; FAQ says 8pm–4pm. Preserve apparent typo as an unresolved source inconsistency. Source
• John Smith Road domain redirects to Waste Connections' John Smith Road page. Header gives 2650 John Smith Road, Hollister, but body combines Travis County rates (including $86.25 mattress/box-spring charge), Cold Canyon, Potrero Hills, Anson, Champ and Butler County sections. Source
• Caspar operator directory gives 14000 Prairie Way, Mendocino 95460; existing program sightings give 15000 Prairie Way. Willits directory gives 351 Franklin Avenue; branch/network pages give 350. Incoming address variants retained without choosing a receiving gate. Source
• C&S network lists Willits at 350 Franklin Avenue while its satellite directory lists 351. Eight satellite names on network page exclude Willits because it appears separately; satellite page includes Willits among nine. Different grouping is not a missing tenth satellite. Source
• Waste department directory lists Tecopa/Shoshone under transfer stations, unlike Environmental Health’s same-town landfill exclusions. It also includes Darwin, absent from Environmental Health’s four transfer names. Facility classes and source scope differ; office address is not a receiving gate. Source
• County detail page says mattress recycling is available at all manned facilities, while its parent recycling page specifically names three landfills. Whether Big Pine or other transfer facilities accept mattresses is unresolved. Source
• Linked notice effective January 4, 2021 lists Independence Sunday/Thursday 7:30–3:30 and Lone Pine Thursday through Monday 7:30–3:30, consistent with current county HTML. Existing MRC Independence hours end at 3:00 and vary Sunday opening. Source
• Mono primary page says Pumice Valley mattress recycling will soon be available. It describes no-cost recycling for dry mattresses free of debris and bed bugs, self-loaded into the container, and separately quotes $147/ton for C&D disposal. Source
• Recyc-Matelas Europe card 463 says USA but lacks a state and has an unusable address; quarantined without guessing its country. Cards 498, 500, 504 and 505 explicitly say CAN and remain outside US staging. Source
• Lompoc card 301 reports weekend closing at 3:45AM after a 10AM opening. Midnight-only and repeated-weekday schedules also occur in the tail, including Hutchinson Correctional Facility and Recycle Warehouse. Source
• California mattress stewardship program run by Mattress Recycling Council (Bye Bye Mattress) under CalRecycle oversight. Residents can drop off used mattresses free at 240+ permanent sites (MRC: 99% of residents within 15 miles); about 100 free collection events a year; retailer take-back and municipal curbside pickup also listed. Locator: byebyemattress.com/find-a-facility. Source
• California mattress recycling fee is $18.00 per unit (mattress, futon or foundation) sold on or after April 1, 2026, up from $16.00. Must be a separate receipt line item; not subject to sales tax. Announcement dated December 16, 2025. Source
• PRC §42992: when a new mattress is delivered, the retailer must offer to pick up the used mattress for recovery at no additional cost (since July 1, 2014). Since January 1, 2021, for common-carrier/online deliveries the retailer must offer to arrange pickup within 30 days of delivery. Retailers may refuse contaminated mattresses posing a risk; delivery itself may still be charged. Source
• MRC funds an Illegally Dumped Mattress Collection Initiative ($1 million a year) plus pilot funding for local anti-dumping education/enforcement; MRC reports nearly 512,000 illegally disposed mattresses removed. Page points to a ByeByeMattress.com directory of cities offering free curbside pickup. Source
• CalRecycle's mattress page describes the state Mattress Stewardship Program and links the MRC facility locator and retailer take-back information. No statewide landfill disposal ban on mattresses is stated on this page. Source