How to get rid of a mattress in Cary, 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.

• Cary's Chapter 8.08 sets the curbside window and the storage rule a mattress has to satisfy, and makes an abandoned one a nuisance with a 30-day clock. Section 8.08.040: "No person shall place any garbage and refuse container on any street, alley or other public place more than twenty-four (24) hours prior to the regular and customary collection schedule established by such person's scavenger, nor shall any person permit such garbage and refuse containers to remain in any street, alley or other public place more than twenty-four (24) hours after the aforesaid regular and customary collection schedule. At all other times garbage and refuse containers shall be stored either within an enclosed structure or behind the front building line. Garbage and refuse containers may not be stored in either a front or exterior side yard." Section 8.08.050(A): "No person shall place any refuse in any street, alley or other public place, or other public or private property whether owned by such person or not, within the Village except if it is in proper containers for collection or under express approval granted by the Health Officer." Subsection (B) is the enforcement route: "Any unauthorized accumulation of refuse on any premises is a nuisance and is prohibited. Failure to remove any existing accumulation of refuse within thirty (30) days after notice by the Director of Community Development or his representative, shall be deemed a violation of this chapter." Subsection (C) bars depositing refuse so that "it may be carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk, alley, sewer, parkway or other public place", and subsections (D) and (E) bar putting refuse in someone else's dumpster or in a Village receptacle. Section 8.08.070 makes it "unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to steal recyclable materials that have been placed at the curbside". Section 8.08.020 requires garbage containers to be watertight metal or plastic with a close-fitting cover, or a durable securely closed plastic bag - which is why a mattress is handled as a bulk item rather than as containerised refuse. Source Not confirmed: Chapter 8.08 says nothing about bulk items or mattresses specifically, and publishes no fine figure; the Village's general penalty provision was not read, so the penalty for illegal dumping in Cary is not established.
• Not an option: There is no drop-off near Cary that will take a mattress. The only drop-off the Village runs is for electronics: "Flood Brothers will provide a free drop-off for approved electronics at the Village of Cary Public Works, 454 Cary Woods Circle", with the approved list held on the hauler's Cary page. Holiday lights are collected in seasonal bins at the Cary Municipal Center and at Fire Stations 1 and 2 through Elgin Recycling, and Christmas trees are collected at the curb throughout January. The Village operates no transfer station, landfill, convenience center or residents' drop-off day. In McHenry County the nearest transfer station, WM's Virginia Road site, publishes no residential rate at all - a point already established and closed - so a Cary resident has no priced self-haul option. The routes in Cary are the free weekly bulk item, a $3.42 sticker for each additional item, and the once-a-year Spring Clean-Up. Source
• Not an option: The charity shop on Cary's own main street will not take a used mattress, and publishes the refusal twice over. Home of the Sparrow, a McHenry County housing charity, runs a Sparrow's Nest Thrift Store & Donation Center at 380 Northwest Hwy, Cary. Its published FAQ answers the question directly: "DO YOU ACCEPT MATTRESSES AND/OR MATTRESS TOPPERS? No, we do NOT accept used mattresses. We ONLY accept BRAND NEW mattresses in its ORIGINAL PACKAGING. Yes, we accept mattress TOPPERS if they are in 'NEW' or 'LIKE NEW' condition." The not-accepted list repeats it and goes further, ruling out the rest of the bed: "Mattresses (will accept ONLY brand new in original packaging)", "Sleeper sofas (with pull-out beds) and water beds (landlords don't allow them)", "Beds, bed frames, headboards, footboards, box springs" and "Cribs/Bassinets/Cradles". Donations are taken at the stores "ONLY... from 10am-4:30pm, Monday-Saturday", and the furniture collection service covers Cary by name among its Northern Illinois towns, with a fee ("a $10 surcharge fee will be required for all furniture pick ups. Credit card only" in the FAQ; the furniture donations page states a "Nominal $20 fee for furniture pickups"), items accepted at the crew's discretion, and no pickups from senior or assisted living facilities. Home of the Sparrow even tells inquirers where to look instead, pointing to general mattress-disposal guidance rather than to any local recycler. Its home office is at 1991 Duncan Place, Woodstock, IL 60098, 815-271-5444. Source Not confirmed: Home of the Sparrow publishes two different furniture pickup fees - $10 in the FAQ and $20 on the furniture donations page - and does not say which is current. Neither applies to a mattress in any event. Not confirmed: No other Cary thrift shop, shelter or furniture bank with a published mattress policy was found.
• Not an option: Nothing in Cary is mattress-specific. Flood Brothers' Cary page separates out the streams it does divert - single-stream recycling with no limit on quantity, yard waste from April to November, batteries, electronics under the Illinois landfill ban, and its own upcycling program - and puts mattresses and box springs in the ordinary bulk-item list collected with the refuse. The Village's only dedicated recycling drop-offs are the free electronics drop-off at Public Works, 454 Cary Woods Circle, and the seasonal holiday-lights bins run with Elgin Recycling. Household hazardous waste is handled by referral: "Flood Bros would inform residents to reach out to our office when a possible hazardous waste material may need to be disposed of. We will work with the resident to find the best solution for disposal with the assistance of McHenry Recycling programs." There is no mattress recycler, mattress take-back or mattress diversion program published for Cary or McHenry County, and Illinois is not a Mattress Recycling Council state. Source

• 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