How to get rid of a mattress in Beardstown, 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.

• Beardstown's code names mattresses directly, and in doing so says two useful things at once: that a mattress is not eligible for the ordinary curbside collection, and that the city's answer is a designated drop-off with a posted fee schedule. Sec. 8-4. - Large item disposal, added by Ord. No. 2015-19 on August 18, 2015, reads in full: "The City of Beardstown may from time to time designate drop off locations within the city for city residents to dispose of any large household items such as couches, chairs, mattresses, box springs, bed frames, sofas, tables, bookcases, other furniture items, plumbing and electrical fixtures, and other bulk items not eligible for collection through regular garbage pickup. The city public works director shall post signs at such locations designating eligible and ineligible items for disposal and shall also maintain and post a schedule of fees for the disposal of such bulk items. No person shall deposit any waste other than eligible bulk items at such locations." Sec. 8-1 backs this up: "No one shall deposit offal, garbage, night soil, ashes or other refuse matter of any description upon any street, alley, vacant lot, public grounds or premises within the city except in containers and locations set forth in Article II of this chapter." Sec. 8-5 makes a violation subject to the general penalty in Sec. 1-9. Source Not confirmed: The city does not publish anywhere on its website where a designated drop-off location is, when it is open, or the schedule of fees that Sec. 8-4 requires the public works director to maintain and post - the code puts both on signs at the location itself. Not confirmed: Whether any drop-off location is currently designated could not be established from published sources.
• The rest of Chapter 8 explains why a mattress has nowhere to go in the weekly collection: Beardstown's garbage service is defined by what fits in a bag or can, is capped at six containers a week, and is run by a single contractor nobody else may compete with. Sec. 8-13 empowers the city "to enter into an exclusive contract with any person or corporation for the collection, removal and disposal of garbage" for a term "not to exceed five (5) years". Sec. 8-14 defines Garbage as "garbage, refuse, ashes, and any other materials that will be in regular type garbage cans or plastic bags, except dead animals or fowl, manure, dirt, bricks, concrete, leaves, grass cuttings, weeds, trees, tree limbs, landscape and yard waste and all other material prohibited by any federal, state or local laws and/or regulations from being placed in any landfill", and a Service unit as "a residence, dwelling house or occupied apartment in any multiple dwelling unit", excluding "any trailers or residences in trailer courts". Sec. 8-15 declares "residential garbage service to be mandatory for each residential property not otherwise exempt", billed "together with municipal water and sewer service" with "a one dollar ($1.00) surcharge for the administration and billing of said service" and a discount for residents aged at least 65 who apply to the city clerk. Sec. 8-16: "All garbage shall be placed in plastic bags or a substantial, permanent type container having a capacity of not to exceed sixty (60) pounds in weight with an appropriate semi-air tight top." Sec. 8-17 puts collection on "the boulevard area of the first public street adjacent to the curbing" and adds "No garbage shall be placed on the boulevard area more than twelve (12) hours prior to the pickup period or permitted to remain there for more than twelve (12) hours after the pickup period." Sec. 8-19: "No more than six (6) bags and/or containers or combinations thereof of garbage shall be collected once each week from each service unit." Sec. 8-21: anyone "otherwise collecting garbage from service units defined herein other than the exclusive contract holder designated by the city shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100.00). Each separate day that an offense occurs shall be considered a separate offense subject to separate penalties." Sec. 8-25 lets the city clear accumulations from private property and recover the cost as a lien on the real estate. Source Not confirmed: The exclusive contractor is not named in the code, and the city's website does not name the hauler. Not confirmed: The residential garbage rates sit in an exhibit 'A' which the code says is "not set out at length herein but are on file and available for inspection in the office of the city clerk", so the price of the mandatory service is not published online. Not confirmed: The city's Public Works page publishes nothing about refuse collection, bulk items or clean-up days.

• 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