How to get rid of a mattress in Clarkston, GA.

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.

• Clarkston's Sanitation page: "Starting April 30, 2024, Waste Pro will be our new sanitation service provider"; "Refuse (regular household trash) is picked up on Mondays, except for Holidays" (2026 holidays with no service: January 1, July 4, November 26, December 31); carts go out "the night before your collection day", but "No refuse should be placed at the street for pickup until 5:00 PM on the Sunday prior to the Monday pickup. (City Ordinance Article 5, Sec. 19-73)". "Any refuse placed at the street for pickup by Waste Management before the weekend is subject to collection by Public Works. The resident at the location will receive an invoice covering the cost when this special pickup is required." The page repeats that Public Works handles yard waste and bulk items as special pickups by prior arrangement with Marcus Seaton. Source Not confirmed: The page does not restate how a bulky-item pickup is booked beyond contacting Public Works; the booking rules are on the separate Yard Waste/Bulk Items page.
• Clarkston's code, Chapter 19 (Utilities and Services), Sec. 19-73(9): "Inoperative, privately used or worn out household appliances (refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, dryers, discarded furniture) will be collected at the curb on an on-call and special fee basis to the department." So the code authorizes a fee for discarded furniture and the City's price list sets one. Sec. 19-73(5): refuse goes out "at or before 8:00 a.m. or prior to the arrival of the sanitation truck; this placement shall not be made before 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to collection day"; anything left after the crew has gone is "at the peril of the owner", and the owner is "subject to prosecution" if the street is littered. Sec. 19-73(6): containers removed "not later than 7:00 p.m. on the day the contents are emptied". Sec. 19-74(f): a commercial container holding furniture or bed springs is not emptied. Sec. 19-53(a): "It shall be unlawful for any person to dump or to cause to be dumped any garbage, refuse, litter, junk, appliances, equipment ... anywhere in the city except as may be permitted by city regulations"; dumped material that can be traced to a person is prima facie evidence against that person (19-53(c)). Sec. 19-52(b): no one not licensed by the city may collect and haul refuse other than their own. Sec. 19-78: collection fees "shall be as established by action of the city council". Source Not confirmed: Sec. 19-73 puts the curb time at 5 p.m. the day before, while the City's page puts it at 5 p.m. on the Sunday before a Monday collection; these agree for a Monday route and no conflict was found. Not confirmed: No penalty figure appears in the Chapter 19 sections read; the litter chapter (23) supplies one.
• Clarkston's Litter Control chapter (Chapter 23, adopted December 5, 2023) makes dumping litter on public or private property a violation. Sec. 23-13 sets the penalty: "By a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00)", plus reimbursing the City "for the reasonable cost of removing the litter", plus, at the court's discretion, clean-up of any litter the person deposited on a public street or any public or private property, and the court may publish the names of those convicted. Source Not confirmed: Whether Sec. 23-13's minimum applies to an abandoned mattress as 'litter' rather than under Chapter 19 was not tested against any published case or City notice.
• Not an option: Goodwill of North Georgia's "Items We Do and Don't Accept" page lists "Mattresses" and "Box springs" under "ITEMS WE CANNOT ACCEPT". A used mattress will be turned away. Source

• Georgia EPD recycling resources page sends residents to Earth911's ZIP-code locator and the Georgia Recycling Coalition. It notes scrap tires are banned from Georgia landfills but lists no mattress rule. No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on Georgia EPD pages as of 2026-09-22; mattress disposal is handled by local governments. Source