How to get rid of a mattress in Lake in the Hills, 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.

• Lake in the Hills has a published set-out window and a named code section for it, and it enforces by notice rather than by fine. The Village's own enforcement notice states the rule plainly: "Cans and special collection items are not to be set out prior to 6:00 PM on the evening preceding the scheduled pick up day" - the phrase "special collection items" covers a bulk item put out for collection, not just the cart. Storage between collections is regulated too: when not out for collection, cans are to be stored "inside the garage or, along the side wall of the home or, at the rear yard", because "Section 13.02 (D) of the Municipal Code prohibits keeping garbage and recycling cans in front of the garage on the front elevation of the home." On penalties the Village is explicit that the first step costs nothing: "Notices are not tickets or citations. When a courtesy/violation notice is issued by our property maintenance inspectors, there are no fines and fees. Notices serve as a reminder of the ordinance requirements and give residents a timeframe to make the necessary changes." It adds that "If the corrections are not made, there may be citations applied", and reports that in a sweep of the rule "254 notices were administered and 0 citations were issued". Inquiries go to the Community Development Division at 847-960-7400. Source Not confirmed: The Village publishes no fine amount for a citation that does follow an uncorrected notice. Not confirmed: The full text of Section 13.02(D) was not read: the Village's Municipal Code is not published as browsable pages and is available only through its Public Document Portal. Not confirmed: No ordinance provision on illegal dumping, apartment or HOA bulky-item restrictions was located for Lake in the Hills.
• The free township drop-off Lake in the Hills residents are entitled to use does not take mattresses. Lake in the Hills lies in Algonquin Township, whose Road District site at 3702 US Hwy. 14, Crystal Lake, (847) 639-2700 #6, is open "7 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Monday-Friday" for daily drop-off with specialized recycling "9-11 a.m." on April 25, May 30, June 27, July 25, August 29, September 26 and October 31, 2026. The county Green Guide lists what it accepts "From Township Residents ONLY": TVs and monitors (one per family per month, no charge), car and boat batteries, used motor and cooking oil, "Two tires without rims free with proof of residency", and on the daily list aluminum and metal cans, glass bottles and jars, plastics, newspaper, cardboard and magazines, "Clothing, shoes, flags", eyeglasses, cellphones, hearing aids, children's books, household electronics other than TVs and monitors, and seasonal brush - with "No appliances", "No bulbs, no auto fluids" and "No household hazardous waste". Mattresses, box springs, bedding and furniture appear on neither list. The Village operates no drop-off of its own, and its Public Works Facility at 9010 Haligus Road is published only as a place to collect free yard waste decals. Source Not confirmed: The guide states no rule for a non-listed item brought to the township site, so the absence of mattresses from the accepted lists is what establishes this, not a published refusal.
• The nearest transfer station to Lake in the Hills is only a few miles east, in Crystal Lake, and it publishes no rate a resident could rely on. WM's Virginia Road Transfer Station, 1400 S Virginia Road, Crystal Lake, IL 60014, is listed as accepting "Construction & Demolition Debris" and "Municipal Solid Waste", and "This facility does not accept hazardous waste". It is open 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on weekends, closed on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas but open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday and Veterans Day. Preferred payment is "Credit or Debit Cards" or a credit account. The entry condition is unusual for a walk-up visitor: "Site requires all customers to have a High Visibility Vest and Hard Hat to utilize site. Both High Visibility Vests and Hard Hats are available at the site for purchase." WM's own note reads "Please contact the receiving facility for acceptable material types and receiving hours." Source Not confirmed: No tipping fee, minimum charge or mattress price is published for this transfer station. Not confirmed: The listing does not say whether household self-haul customers are accepted as distinct from commercial haulers.
• The Habitat ReStores nearest Lake in the Hills refuse mattresses in writing. Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity's published Donation Guidelines list "Mattresses/Box springs/Sofa beds" among the items the ReStores - at 903 Front St, McHenry and 133 S Eastwood Dr, Woodstock - cannot accept, in the same column as glass shower doors, hot tubs and jacuzzis, pianos and organs, treadmills or ellipticals, swing sets, and "Items with rips, stains, smoke or pet hair". The exclusion is at item level, so it closes off both the drop-off and the Habitat pickup route. The guidelines' own referral line under "Mattresses" offers "Verlo Mattress", "1-800-GOT-JUNK", "College Hunks: 815-374-7512" and "Call your recycling pick up" - and for Lake in the Hills that last one means the single free Flood Brothers bulk item, booked in advance at 630-261-0578. Source Not confirmed: The guidelines publish no exception for a new or unused mattress. Not confirmed: None of the four mattress referrals in the guidelines carries a published price.

• 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