How to get rid of a mattress in Fruita, 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.

• Fruita has no bulky-item or large-item collection, and the City says so in its own words. "The City of Fruita contracts with Waste Management (WM) to provide curbside trash and recycling (optional) services to Fruita residents", weekly for trash and biweekly for recycling, on 96-gallon carts; "Effective January 1, 2026, the cost for this service is $20.80 per month, and the senior rate (age and income eligibility requirements apply) is $18.35", with a second cart at "$4.40 per month" on a six-month minimum. Trash "must be placed curbside (not on the sidewalk) by 7 am on the scheduled pick-up day." The City's own FAQ, "Why doesn't Fruita have a fall/spring clean-up program?", answers: "Due to the small population size of Fruita, and to save costs for residents, the city's trash services are contracted out to a private company instead of being as a municipal program. In the past, the City of Fruita has evaluated the costs of providing a spring and/or fall clean-up for residents like the program in Grand Junction (where residents can leave an unlimited amount of trash on the curbs to be collected, with exception of certain items), but the cost from the contracted provider was too prohibitive at the time. Since the City's trash fund is fully funded through user fees, this additional cost would have to be passed on to residents in significantly increased monthly fees, and the City decided against that." It adds that "the City last year started hosting clean-up events at the City Shop building", that "Fruita residents filled up two 30-yard dumpsters as part of the program, and it is scheduled to continue next year". A second FAQ, "Can I leave extra materials next to or on top of the cart?", answers: "All materials must be contained inside the cart. Drivers cannot service carts with materials on top. If a household has more trash than can fit in the 96-gallon cart, the household will need to order an additional cart from Waste Management." The only other extra services are a November-December bagged leaf pickup and "a drop-off location after the holiday season for extra household trash". The City refers hazardous waste questions to "the Mesa County Landfill at 970-257-9336" and takes service calls at 970-858-3663. Source Not confirmed: The City Shop clean-up event has no published date, address or accepted-items list on this page, so whether a mattress can be taken to it is not established. Not confirmed: The page publishes no charge for WM to collect a large item on request, and does not say whether WM offers that to Fruita customers at all.
• Fruita Municipal Code Chapter 8.08 (Garbage and Solid Waste) makes the cart rule a legal one rather than a hauler preference. Sec. 8.08.020(A): "Residential solid waste shall be placed in disposable plastic bags with the top securely tied in secured containers no larger than Ninety-six (96) gallon containers. Containers will be provided by the City by and through its duly authorized employees, its contractors or city licensed operators... Residents may only use containers that are provided through the City." Sec. 8.08.080(A) makes the City and its contractor "the sole agency for the collection of residential solid waste" from single-family and small multi-family homes, while expressly preserving the right of "an individual resident from hauling his own waste matter providing it is disposed of properly and in conformity with all City, County and State regulations" - and noting that hauling your own does not relieve you of the monthly charge. Sec. 8.08.080(E)(1) requires containers to be placed "with wheels facing curb and three (3) feet from any other object at the front of the premises... or at the rear of the premises where there is an alley, not later than 7:00 a.m." on the collection day, and 8.08.080(E)(2): "Containers for solid waste and recyclable materials shall not, at any time, be placed on the sidewalk or in the street or alley, or in such a manner as to impair or obstruct pedestrian, bicycle or vehicular traffic." Sec. 8.08.080(C) adds that "Any resident may be billed an additional charge to be fixed by the City Manager for picking up solid waste which does not comply with the requirements of this section." Leaving a mattress out is caught by Sec. 8.08.040: allowing an accumulation of waste "within or upon any private alley, yard, or area, except when it is temporarily deposited for immediate removal, is declared a public nuisance and subject to the provisions of Chapter 9.11 of this Code." Sec. 8.08.050 makes it unlawful to haul garbage, trash or waste through the City unless enclosed or, where the bulk is too great, adequately covered to prevent scattering. Chapter 8.04 separately treats "places of discarded building material, waste, or rejected matter, trash or refuse" as trash a property owner must remove, enforced by assessment plus a ten percent penalty certified to the county tax list under 8.04.050, with 8.04.060 making a violation "a noncriminal municipal offense". Source Not confirmed: The code sets no dollar figure for the noncriminal municipal offense penalty under 8.04.060 or for the additional charge under 8.08.080(C). Not confirmed: Chapter 8.08 contains no bulky-item, large-item or mattress provision, so there is no ordinance answer to what a resident may set out beside the cart.
• The mattress-specific answer for Fruita is fourteen miles up the valley at the Mesa County Landfill, not in Fruita itself. Mesa County's own announcement confirms it is continuing the mattress recycling service run there by Spring Back Colorado, which "has provided mattress recycling services in Colorado since 2011"; the current contract was approved on January 13, 2026 for 2026 operations, the program having launched "just over four years ago". The published price is "$20 per item. A mattress and box spring together cost $40". About 90 percent of each mattress is recyclable, the recovered materials being "steel, foam, cotton, wood, and fabric". The county states the limit plainly: "Mattresses that are excessively soiled or contain bedbugs must still be disposed of in the landfill for safety reasons." On community cleanup events, the county says mattress acceptance "varies by location and year", so residents should confirm with whoever is hosting the event. Source Not confirmed: The announcement does not give the landfill's opening hours or say whether the $20 per item is charged in addition to the landfill's ordinary gate or minimum charge. Not confirmed: It does not say whether the four Mesa County transfer stations, including the one in Fruita, feed mattresses into this recycling stream or send them to the landfill face.

• 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