How to get rid of a mattress in Prospect Heights, 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.

• Prospect Heights' code is the reason the hauler's free bulk collection is worth knowing about: the ordinance itself permits a charge. Chapter 9 of the City Code (Waste Disposal), section 3-9-5.B, "Removal Of Bulky Refuse Items", provides: "Bulky refuse items which cannot be lifted and/or transported with ease; e.g., discarded household furniture, furnishings, fixtures and appliances of all kinds; tree trunks, roots, construction materials, etc., may be removed from the parkway for an additional fee to be set by the waste disposal firm or contractor. Such items shall not be placed in waste containers, but may be placed on the parkway for prompt collection and disposal upon private arrangements being made for such service." Section 3-9-3.B sets the bundle limits for everything that will not fit a container: refuse "of a size or nature which renders it unsuitable for deposit in approved refuse receptacles shall be placed on the ground adjacent to the receptacles in neat and orderly bundles or stacks not to exceed seventy (70) pounds in weight and four feet (4') in length" (amended by Ord. O-20-35, 2020) - the only weight figure a Prospect Heights resident is given, and it is 70 pounds, not the 50 the hauler applies to bagged refuse. Section 3-9-3.A requires that all refuse "be called for and disposed of by a scavenger service duly licensed by the City". The set-out rule is 3-9-4.G: containers are to be placed at the front curb or parkway "no sooner than dusk or seven o'clock (7:00) P.M. whichever is earlier, the day before collection" and "shall be returned to their premises location within twelve (12) hours after the collection service has been performed". The definitions section is also worth reading: "EXCESSIVE REFUSE" is defined as "sod, bricks, boards, building scraps, tree branches, heavy brush, and abnormal prunings; excluding discarded household furniture, furnishings, fixtures and appliances of all kinds" - household furniture is deliberately not excessive refuse. Source Not confirmed: The code permits a bulky fee "to be set by the waste disposal firm or contractor" and sets no figure; the current contractor's own page says there is no additional charge, and no City document reconciles the two. Not confirmed: No penalty figure for unlawful disposal was read in this chapter.
• Not an option: The nearest charity resale shop to Prospect Heights will not take a mattress, and says so in writing. WINGS Program, the domestic-violence charity whose resale shops fund its services, runs a store at 1302 N. Rand Rd., Arlington Heights (847) 963-0861 - about four miles from Prospect Heights - and its furniture donation guidelines state: "We do not accept bedframes, headboards, footboards, mattresses, cribs, sleeper sofas, armoires, large desks, wall units, entertainment centers, and China cabinets." The shops otherwise take "gently used clothing, accessories, housewares and furniture", are open Sunday-Monday 10am-5pm and Tuesday-Saturday 10am-7pm, and arrange furniture collection by email to furniture@wingsprogram.com or at (224) 938-3902, with "Pick-ups are scheduled 7-10 days out" Monday through Saturday between 9:00am and 1:00pm. A Prospect Heights resident with a usable bed frame has somewhere to take it; the mattress on it is refused. 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