How to get rid of a mattress in Downers Grove, 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.

• Downers Grove Municipal Code Chapter 13 sets the set-out clock and the dumping penalties. Section 13.49.1 provides that garbage, refuse, recyclables and compostable materials "may be placed on parkways in the Village only to facilitate their removal by scavengers", that each item must either carry "An appropriate refuse or yard waste sticker... affixed to the bag or container... in such manner that the sticker is readily visible and can be readily removed by the scavenger" or be in "A container obtained from the scavenger service", that materials must be "stored in containers or otherwise appropriately secured to ensure that debris or refuse is not scattered by weather, animals or other causes", and that they "may be placed on the parkway after 12:00 noon the day preceding scavenger service. Refuse, recyclables, compostable materials and containers used to store these items shall be removed from the parkway by 12:00 midnight of the day of scavenger service." Section 13.47 provides that "The depositing of any garbage, rubbish, compostable material, combustible material or junk on any vacant lot within the Village without written permission from the owner and written permission from the Village Manager... is unlawful. The dumping or spreading of any garbage, rubbish, compostable material, combustible material, or junk on any street, parkway or public-owned property is prohibited." Section 13.49.5 fixes the penalty for sections 13.45, 13.46, 13.47, 13.49.2, 13.49.3 and 13.49.4 at "not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00)", rising to "not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00)" for a second or subsequent finding of guilt. Separately, section 13.7 makes it a nuisance "To throw, deposit or allow the accumulation of any garbage, refuse, waste or similar material on any public or private property unless such material is contained in a receptacle of proper size and design so as to prevent the dissemination or release of such material to adjacent properties", and section 13.6 sets the nuisance fine at "not less than seventy-five dollars ($75.00) nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00)", with abatement by the Village and a lien for the cost under sections 13.8 and 13.8.1. Source Not confirmed: The code's sticker requirement in 13.49.1 was written for the pre-April-2026 sticker program and has not been reconciled with the cart contract, under which two bulk items a week carry no sticker; the mattress-wrapping rule is contractual and appears nowhere in the code.
• Not an option: DuPage and Chicago South Suburbs Habitat for Humanity runs the ReStore nearest Downers Grove, at 858 Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540, with donation doors Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (a second store is at 15441 S Cicero, Oak Forest). It will not take a mattress: the "Items we cannot accept" list reads "Cribs; Textiles (clothing, curtains, bedding, linens); Used ladders; Mattresses; Hazardous or toxic chemicals (open or damaged paint cans, cleaning products, etc.); Broken or otherwise nonworking items that cannot be resold; Items not inside a weather-protected, outdoor structure, like a garage". Bed frames, nightstands, sofas, sectionals, tables and working appliances are accepted, and free pick-ups are offered for heavy or large items, but staff "cannot enter your home to retrieve your items". Source
• Illinois has no statewide mattress recycling program, verified against the Mattress Recycling Council's own list of program states: California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon, described as the states "that have enacted mattress recycling laws". There is therefore no Bye Bye Mattress collection site in Downers Grove or DuPage County, no recycling fee collected at the point of sale in Illinois, and no free state-funded drop-off. Neither the Village's waste pages nor its Republic service guide claims that a collected mattress is recycled. Source Not confirmed: No mattress recycler with a DuPage County street address and published terms for household quantities was found.
• Not an option: There is nowhere in or near Downers Grove that the Village directs a resident to take a mattress themselves. The only self-haul destinations named on the Village's waste and recycling page are the Environmental Collection Campus at 156 Fort Hill Dr., Naperville (630.420.6095), which the Village lists for household hazardous waste and for electronics recycling with a fee for televisions, CRTs and monitors, and the Village's own Fleet Garage at 700 Curtiss St., in the fenced lot at Curtiss and Mackie, open Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., which accepts only used motor oil, used coolant and used car batteries. Neither takes bulky household items. DuPage County operates no public landfill or transfer station of its own, and the Village names none. For a Downers Grove resident the curb, where two bulk items a week are free, is the route the Village expects to be used. 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