How to get rid of a mattress in Columbia, 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.

• Columbia's large-item pickup is not a discretionary courtesy - the city code requires it. Chapter 10.20 of the Code of Ordinances, Sec. 10.20.030, provides: "Garbage and refuse collection shall be twice per week and occur Tuesdays and Fridays. Curbside collection for recyclables shall be twice per month and occur on the first and third Fridays of each month. On a quarterly basis, collection for large items such as furniture and appliances will be made available." That last sentence is the ordinance basis for the four dates a year the city publishes. Sec. 10.20.010 makes it "unlawful to place hot ashes in any receptacle, to remove recyclables from another persons receptacle, or for nonresidents of the city to deposit recyclables or garbage in the receptacle of a city resident" - a rare express bar on non-residents using a resident's bin. Sec. 10.20.020 limits the basic monthly charge to "a limit of one receptacle per house, building, flat, apartment or tenement" of "a maximum capacity of not to exceed 30 gallons", and requires a sticker bought "at the office of the city clerk, or wherever else the stickers are made available to the public" for each receptacle over that limit. Sec. 10.20.040 provides that "It is unlawful to deposit any garbage, refuse or recyclables of any kind in or on any public street, alley or sidewalk, or other public way" and that no refuse may be placed "in such a place or container that the same can be blown about by winds". Article II declares accumulations of garbage, trash and "other material or matter of a kind that is noxious, offensive, or unsightly" on private property a nuisance the city may abate "with or without prior notice", recovering its costs as a lien on the premises, foreclosable after 60 days. Note that the code's twice-weekly collection and 30-gallon receptacle predate the city's current once-weekly 65-gallon cart service. Source Not confirmed: Chapter 10.20 carries no penalty section of its own; the fine for a refuse or dumping violation is set elsewhere in Title 1 and was not read. Not confirmed: The code sets no item cap or sticker count for large items - those terms come from the city's published flyer, not the ordinance.
• Not an option: Columbia sits fifteen minutes from St Louis, and the obvious Missouri answer is closed to Illinois residents - worth saying plainly because searchers will try it. The City of St Louis Refuse Division's Residential Refuse Drop Off page states that "Every year, St. Louis City residents can bring up to 12 loads of trash, yard waste, and bulk items" to its North and South Transfer Stations, and requires proof of residency at the gate: homeowners must show a "driver's license or State ID, and a recent combined Water/Solid Waste Fee statement", and renters a "driver's license or State ID, and any other recent utility bill" plus confirmation "that the property owner pays the Solid Waste Fee". Access is "included in the residential Solid Waste Collection Fee", a fee only City of St Louis properties pay, and the stations reject commercial waste and refuse from businesses, charities, churches and non-profits. Hours are "Monday-Friday: 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM except on City-observed holidays", weekend service having been "discontinued as of June 30, 2023". An Illinois resident cannot satisfy the proof-of-residency test, so this is not a route for anyone in Columbia, and the same limit applies to St Louis City's free monthly bulk pickup, which serves City residential solid-waste accounts. Source Not confirmed: The page does not name mattresses among accepted items; the item lists sit at each station rather than on the overview page.

• 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