How to get rid of a mattress in Algonquin, IL.

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.

• Chapter 13 of the Algonquin Municipal Code is what actually binds a resident, and it is the collection contract rather than the code that sets the mattress terms. Sec. 13.02(B) makes the arrangement exclusive and compulsory: "All household garbage, refuse, and recycling generated in each dwelling unit in the Village shall be picked up only by the contractor in Village-approved containers. Collection shall be made at the curbside from every dwelling unit between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the designated collection day for that dwelling unit." Sec. 13.02(C) adds that "All refuse shall be placed in Village approved refuse containers and shall not be left in piles on the ground" while allowing "an unlimited number of approved containers" per stop, and Sec. 13.02(A) applies the section to "All single-family detached, single-family attached, and multiple-family dwelling units". Sec. 13.03 puts preparation on the resident: material "shall be placed immediately behind the curbside" and "It is the responsibility of the customer to properly bag, bundle, and tag all garbage, refuse, yard waste, and recyclables as provided in the contract" - so the wrapping and tagging rules live in the Groot contract, not in the code. Dumping is handled by Sec. 13.06: "It shall be unlawful to dispose of any refuse or garbage except as provided in this Chapter. Without permission from the owner or lessee, no person, firm, or corporation shall deposit garbage or refuse of any kind in garbage collection or storage facilities within the Village that are leased or owned by others", and it is separately unlawful "to deposit garbage bags or other containers in those public access trash receptacles located throughout the Village". Sec. 13.06(C) makes personal mail inside a bag "prima facie evidence that the addressee of the personal mail was responsible". The penalty under Sec. 13.06(D) is that the violator "shall be liable for the cost of removal of the foreign matter and be subject to a fine in accordance with Appendix B, plus the Village's cost of prosecution including reasonable attorneys' fees. Each day that the violation continues shall be considered a separate offense." Sec. 13.02(E) also makes anything set out for recycling the property of the Village or contractor, so scavenging from the curb is itself an offense. The published chapter carries a 7/5/11 revision footer. Source Not confirmed: The fine amount is set by Appendix B of the code, which is a separate document and was not read, so the dollar figure behind Sec. 13.06(D) and Sec. 13.02(H) is not established. Not confirmed: Chapter 13 says nothing about mattresses, bulk items, apartment or HOA restrictions, or set-out windows beyond the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. collection hours.
• Algonquin residents have a free township drop-off a few miles away and it will not take a mattress. Algonquin Township Road District, 3702 US Hwy. 14, Crystal Lake, (847) 639-2700 #6, is open "7 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Monday-Friday" for daily drop-off, with specialized recycling hours "9-11 a.m." on seven 2026 Saturdays (April 25, May 30, June 27, July 25, August 29, September 26, October 31). The county Green Guide sets out exactly what it will accept, "From Township Residents ONLY": on the event days TVs and monitors (one per family per month, no charge), car and boat batteries, used motor and cooking oil, and "Two tires without rims free with proof of residency", with "No transmission fluid, sealant, antifreeze", "No appliances", "No bulbs, no auto fluids" and "No household hazardous waste". The daily drop-off list is aluminum and metal cans, glass bottles and jars, plastics, newspaper, cardboard and magazines, "Clothing, shoes, flags", eyeglasses, cellphones, hearing aids, children's books, household electronics other than TVs and monitors, and seasonal brush. Neither list includes mattresses, box springs, bedding or furniture of any kind, so the nearest free public drop-off to Algonquin is not a route for a mattress. The Village itself operates no yard, transfer station or residents' drop-off day of its own. Source Not confirmed: The guide gives no per-item fee schedule for the township site beyond the TV, tire and bulb items, and states no rule on whether non-listed items are simply refused at the gate.
• The only transfer station in McHenry County is about eight miles from Algonquin and it publishes no gate rate. WM's Virginia Road Transfer Station, 1400 S Virginia Road, Crystal Lake, IL 60014, is listed by WM as accepting "Construction & Demolition Debris" and "Municipal Solid Waste" and as not accepting hazardous waste. Published hours are 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday, closed on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas but open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday and Veterans Day. Payment is by "Credit or Debit Cards" or a credit account. There is a hard entry condition most visitors will not expect: "Site requires all customers to have a High Visibility Vest and Hard Hat to utilize site. Both High Visibility Vests and Hard Hats are available at the site for purchase." WM's own note on the listing is "Please contact the receiving facility for acceptable material types and receiving hours". No tipping fee, no minimum charge, no per-item mattress price and no statement that a household car or pickup may self-haul appears anywhere on the published listing, so a resident cannot establish the cost of taking a mattress there without ringing them. Source Not confirmed: No published rate of any kind: no per-ton tipping fee, no minimum load charge and no mattress or bulky-item item price. Not confirmed: The listing does not say whether walk-in or household self-haul customers are accepted at all, as distinct from commercial haulers.
• The nearest Habitat ReStore to Algonquin will not take a used mattress, and says so in writing. Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity's published Donation Guidelines list "Mattresses/Box springs/Sofa beds" among the items the ReStores cannot accept, alongside glass shower doors, hot tubs, pianos and organs, treadmills, swing sets and "Items with rips, stains, smoke or pet hair". The same document does not leave the donor stranded: its own referral list under the heading "Mattresses" gives "Verlo Mattress", "1-800-GOT-JUNK", "College Hunks: 815-374-7512" and "Call your recycling pick up" - that is, a retailer, two paid haulers and the resident's own curbside bulk allowance, which for Algonquin is the one free Groot item a week. The refusal covers both routes: because the ReStores will not accept the item at all, neither dropping it at the McHenry or Woodstock store nor booking a Habitat donation pickup is open to a mattress. Source Not confirmed: The guidelines give no reason for the exclusion and no exception for a new or unused mattress still in its wrapping. Not confirmed: None of the four referrals on the guidelines' mattress line carries a published price in that document.

• Residential body says Saturday 8–2; same-page footer says 9–1. Both show weekdays 8–4. No Saturday schedule selected. Source
• Locator retains Landfill 33 Saturday 7 a.m.–11 p.m. exactly as printed; implausible closing time requires confirmation. Two Columbus District Office cards are distinct OH and IN addresses, not duplicates. Source
• Illinois EPA recycling page offers a 'Beyond The Bin' ArcGIS map of recycling locations, an Earth911 ZIP locator and the Recycle Coach app (statewide partnership since 2025). No mattress stewardship program mentioned. No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on Illinois EPA pages as of 2026-09-22; mattress disposal is handled by local governments. Source
• There is no state mattress recycling program in Illinois, and the absence is worth stating plainly because the four states that have one give residents free drop-off. The Mattress Recycling Council, which runs the Bye Bye Mattress collection network, lists its programs on its own Programs page as operating in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island. Illinois is not among them. Three things follow for an Illinois resident: no recycling fee is charged on an Illinois mattress sale, there is no MRC-funded free drop-off anywhere in the state, and nothing obliges a retailer, hauler or municipality to recycle a mattress rather than landfill it. Recycling in Illinois is therefore a private arrangement wherever it exists at all — the drop-offs and recyclers listed on this page are businesses and charities choosing to do it, not a program a resident is entitled to. Source