How to get rid of a mattress in Flossmoor, 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.

• Flossmoor runs no village collection at all: the village's Refuse Collection & Recycling Information page says in its own words that "Refuse pick-up is handled by individual arrangement with local scavenger companies" and then lists "the private scavengers who service the Flossmoor residential area" as Homewood Disposal of Homewood, IL at 708-798-1004 and Republic Services of Chicago Heights, IL at 708-754-5460. There is therefore no municipal bulk allowance, no village booking line and no village fee schedule for a mattress - whatever a Flossmoor household gets depends on which company it has signed up with and is billed by. The village page does set rules that apply whoever collects: "A commercially manufactured container which has a close-fitting cover must be used", "Refuse that is too large or heavy for the container may be placed alongside the container in such a manner that it cannot be scattered", "The containers shall not be placed for refuse pickup more than 24 hours before such pickup and shall be removed within 24 hours after such pickup", and "Such containers, when not out for pickup, shall be stored concealed from view from the street." The page also sells Homewood Disposal yard waste stickers at $3.45 each at Village Hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road, and says curbside collection of electronics is no longer available. Source
• Flossmoor's property maintenance code sets the set-out window and the dumping rules that a mattress at the curb has to satisfy. Sec. 215-7-6(B) says "The owner of the premises shall provide and at all times cause to be used a commercially manufactured container which has a close-fitting cover and is provided with handles. Refuse that is too large or heavy for the container, such as limbs, twigs, construction materials, etc., may be placed alongside the container in such a manner that it cannot be scattered. Such containers shall not be placed for refuse pickup more than 24 hours before such pickup and shall be removed within 24 hours after such pickup. Such containers, when not out for pickup, shall be stored as reasonably concealed from view from the street as is practical." Sec. 215-7-4 makes littering unlawful: "Throwing or depositing garbage, food product, bird food, animal food, debris or refuse of any kind, including but not limited to cans, bottles, paper and plastic, in any street, alley, park or public way within the Village is unlawful." Sec. 215-7-19 adds that it is unlawful "to store or throw away any refuse of any kind in any alley, street or other public way in the Village", and Sec. 215-7-20 forbids leaving refuse where it can be blown about. Sec. 215-7-21 permits one dumpster per residential lot, only with an administrative permit from the Zoning Administrator, for no more than 30 days per lot per calendar year and no more than two placements in twelve months - so a dumpster is not a quiet alternative here. Source Not confirmed: Flossmoor's general penalty amount for a refuse violation is set elsewhere in the code and was not read.
• Flossmoor licenses its scavengers rather than contracting one, and Chapter 240 of the code explains why a Flossmoor household chooses its own hauler. Sec. 240-1-1: "No person shall engage in the business of scavenger, garbage collection or refuse collection and disposal within the Village limits without first securing a license to conduct such business pursuant to this article." Sec. 240-1-2: "There shall be one type of scavenger license which permits the holder to service single-family dwellings on a route basis, and also permits the holder to service commercial, industrial and multifamily buildings on a contractual basis." Two rules bear directly on when a mattress can be taken: Sec. 240-1-7 says "It shall be unlawful for any scavenger to collect refuse on any street of the Village between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m." and "It shall be unlawful for any scavenger to collect refuse on any street in the Village on any Sunday." Sec. 240-1-8 requires licensees to collect recycling and yard waste separated from normal refuse "from all single-family residential customers", and Sec. 240-1-10 forbids anyone other than the licensed recycler removing items from a curbside recycling container. Source
• Not an option: The nearest transfer stations to Flossmoor are its own hauler's, and they are closed to a household carload in all but name. Homewood Disposal's transfer stations page lists East Hazel Crest Transfer at 17450 S. Laflin Ave., East Hazel Crest, IL, open Monday through Friday 5:30am to 5pm and Saturday 5:30am to noon, and Park Forest Transfer in Park Forest, IL, open Monday through Friday 8am to 4:30pm and closed on weekends. Both say "The minimum charge is for 1 ton" and "Please call for rates." The page's own FAQ is explicit that this is not a household drop-off: "Yes, homeowners and businesses can use the transfer station to drop off large loads of waste material... We are not setup to accept small loads of household waste." It adds "A 1-ton (2,000 lb) minimum charge applies at the East Hazel Crest and Park Forest, Illinois locations" and "Customers may drop off loads weighing less than the minimum, but the applicable minimum charge will still apply." A queen mattress weighs a small fraction of a ton, so a resident driving one in would pay a full ton of disposal at a rate the company does not publish. Payment is by cash, check or credit card. Source Not confirmed: Homewood Disposal publishes no per-ton rate, so the cost of the 1-ton minimum cannot be stated.
• Not an option: The nearest reuse charity to Flossmoor that publishes an accepted-items list will take the bed frame and not the mattress. Restoration Ministries, a Harvey ministry whose thrift stores fund its Harvey House and Tabitha House recovery programs, runs stores at 14950 Dixie Highway, Harvey, IL 60426 (Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and 351 W 162nd Street, South Holland, IL 60473 (Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), both a short drive from Flossmoor. It accepts "Furniture, Appliances (ex: washers, dryers, stoves, etc.), Gently used clothing, shoes, and accessories, Household items (lamps, paintings, small appliances), Knick-knacks, Jewelry, Gently used linens, towels, blankets, DVDs, videos, CDs" and states the exclusion in its own words: "We are unable to accept large, older TVs, mattresses, baby car seats, and cribs." It offers free donation pick-ups and clean-out services booked at 708-876-8413 or rmipickup@gmail.com, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the mattress exclusion applies to those too. 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