How to get rid of a mattress in Des Plaines, 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.

• LRS's own Des Plaines page confirms the City program from the hauler's side and adds the set-out time. It repeats that "One 'bulk' item a week may be placed out for collection at no additional charge. Additional bulk items may be placed out for collection but may result in a service charge", and states that "All items and material should be placed out for collection by 7AM." Yard waste containers "should not exceed 35-gallons" and 50 lbs, with no limit on properly prepared yard waste. E-waste is the one thing LRS will not simply take from the curb: "E-waste pickups must be prescheduled with LRS" on 844.NEED.LRS, and "Free drop offs are also available at Public Works (1111 Joseph J. Schwab Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016) on Wednesdays between 8 AM and 3 PM" for electronics only. Source
• Des Plaines City Code section 5-2-11 is the illegal-dumping rule people search for and it is broad. Subsection A: "It shall be unlawful and it is hereby declared to be a nuisance, for any person to deposit, place, or dump in any manner, whatsoever, any refuse of any kind, garbage, refuse, yard waste, concrete or other construction material, or thing in or upon any sidewalk, street, alley, parkway, park, school, private property, public place or any other city right of way whether or not a 'No Dumping' sign is posted on said property" - private property is covered as well as public, and the absence of a sign is no defense. Subsection B forbids burning or burying garbage or refuse in the city. Subsection C makes it a nuisance to leave a cart or container on the street or parkway after collection - "such garbage cans, carts, containers or other receptacles must be retrieved on the day of pick up" - and to place waste out other than as section 5-2-8 allows; any container found in violation "shall be confiscated and destroyed at the property owner's expense". The fine is set by the general penalty at Title 1, Chapter 4: section 1-4-1 provides that "Any person convicted of a violation of any section of this code, unless otherwise specified, shall be fined a sum not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) for each offense", and section 1-4-3 makes each day a continuing violation continues a separate offense. Source
• Not an option: Des Plaines does run a residents' drop-off at its Public Works yard, but it will not take a mattress. The City's page sets it out as "Public Works, 1111 Joseph Schwab Road, Wednesdays only, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.", open to Des Plaines residents only, and the accepted list is short and specific: automobile batteries (limit 2), household batteries (nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion and small sealed lead, taped if over 1.5V), household fluorescent light bulbs (limit 4), tires with no rims (limit 2 per drop-off) and electronics. Mattresses, box springs and furniture are not on the list, and the page instead directs bulky household items back to the weekly LRS bulk collection. For construction material it names Vulcan Materials of Elk Grove (847-437-4181) for asphalt, brick or concrete at a cost, and Habitat for Humanity's ReStore (847-742-9905) for reusable building materials - neither of which takes mattresses either. The City has no landfill or transfer station of its own. Source
• Not an option: There is no mattress-specific option for Des Plaines. The Mattress Recycling Council says it operates "recycling programs in states that have enacted mattress recycling laws" and lists only California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon; Illinois has no such law, so there is no Bye Bye Mattress collection site and no state program here. A search for a dedicated mattress recycler, retailer take-back or manufacturer program serving Des Plaines returned only junk-removal marketing sites and directory listings with no published mattress price or facility terms, which do not meet the standard for listing. The City's own answer is the LRS bulk collection, which is a refuse service: nothing the City or LRS publishes says a Des Plaines mattress is recycled rather than landfilled. Source Not confirmed: Whether a mattress collected in Des Plaines is landfilled or recovered is not published.
• Not an option: The City's own page points bulky-goods donors at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore at 847-742-9905, but the ReStore will not take a mattress. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley, which runs ReStore Arlington Heights at 955 E. Rand Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004 (Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00am - 5:30pm) and ReStore Elgin at 800 N. State Street, Elgin, IL 60123, publishes a materials acceptance sheet that takes "All furniture. Upholstered must be in excellent condition-no stains, rips etc." while listing "Used mattresses" under "WHAT WE CANNOT ACCEPT". The sheet says the list "is based on current inventory and sales". Free pickup carries a one to two week wait and items must be in a garage or similar sheltered place; priority pickup fees start at $145. 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