How to get rid of a mattress in Cortez, CO.

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.

What we established about this city in particular — including where it runs nothing of its own and residents have to look elsewhere.

• Outside the two clean-up weeks, the City of Cortez Public Works department runs a year-round flatbed service rather than an on-call bulky pickup. "From April 1 to November 1 each year, the city offers a flatbed truck service to help with bulk trash collection." A resident books it by paying "the minimum truck user fee" at the City Service Center, 110 West Progress Circle in the Cortez Industrial Park, "by noon on the requested delivery date"; the contact is 970-565-7320. The flatbed will not take construction debris, chemicals, batteries, hazardous materials, insecticides, pesticides, medical waste, hot ashes, asbestos, wet paint, oil or liquids, and "Do not place tires on the flatbeds." Appliances carry "an additional fee, if prior arrangements have been made and appliances paid for." Cleanup dumpsters are rented separately at 970-564-4012. The page describes the program as being "for items too large to fit in your regular trash container, yard trimmings, and items that you might normally take to the landfill", and says everything collected "is taken to the landfill or recycled". Source Not confirmed: The page does not state the minimum truck user fee. Not confirmed: The page does not name mattresses among what the flatbed will or will not carry, so whether a mattress may go on a flatbed load is unverified.
• Chapter 22B of the Cortez Code of Ordinances (Refuse Collection, from Ord. No. 742) sets the legal frame. Sec. 22B-2 makes the service universal: "The city shall make refuse collection and disposal service available to all residents of the city", while allowing private haulers to operate if they comply with Secs. 22B-3, 22B-6 and 22B-9. Sec. 22B-3(a): "All refuse accumulated in the city shall be collected and disposed of by the city or by private trash haulers", and 22B-3(d) preserves a resident's right to haul their own refuse while making clear that doing so does not exempt them from the refuse collection fee. The rule that bites on a mattress left outside is Sec. 22B-4, Junk and appliances: "It shall be unlawful for any person to place or leave outside any building or dwelling in the city any dilapidated furniture, appliance, machinery, equipment, building material, vehicle or portions thereof, or other items which are either wrecked, junked, dismantled or in inoperative condition, and which are not completely enclosed within a building or dwelling. All such substances shall be prohibited and abated in conformance with Chapter 12 of this Code." Hauling your own is governed by Sec. 22B-10(a): "Any vehicle used to transport refuse, trash, tree or shrubbery trimmings must have suitable covers to prevent the loss of contents on property or roadways." Sec. 22B-9 puts the fee schedule in the hands of council resolution, allows a minimum residential user charge "whether the residential property owner actually uses city sanitation services or not", makes unpaid fees a lien on the property after thirty days, and adds a ten percent penalty five days after the due date. Sec. 22B-8 makes owner and occupant alike responsible for compliance. Source Not confirmed: Chapter 22B carries no mattress-specific provision and no stated fine amount for a Sec. 22B-4 violation; abatement is referred to Chapter 12, which was not read. Not confirmed: The chapter regulates containers and set-out in Division 2 from Sec. 22B-14 onward, which was not read in full.

• Resources page still labels its rate link 2023 Gate Rate Sheet, while the separate Disposal Rates page links a PDF explicitly titled 2026. Preserve the link-label discrepancy rather than interpreting every resource as current. Source
• CDPHE list of residential materials prohibited from Colorado solid waste sites: lead-acid batteries, free liquids, used oil, waste tires, electronic devices/computers. Mattresses not listed. No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on CDPHE pages as of 2026-09-22; mattress disposal is handled by local governments. Source