How to get rid of a mattress in Tinley Park, 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.

• Tinley Park Code of Ordinances section 96.06 makes the Village contract compulsory: "It shall be unlawful to dispose of any garbage, refuse, landscape (yard) waste or recyclable materials anywhere in the village except by placing the same in appropriate containers for collection by the approved garbage disposal contractor or private scavenger service designated by the village and operating under a contract with the village for all single-family detached residential units in the village and for collection by licensed garbage disposal contractors or private scavenger services for any commercial or non-single-family detached residential units within the village." Section 96.07(A) sets residential containers at not less than 20 nor more than 35 gallons with a close-fitting cover and handles, contents not over 50 pounds, and then makes room for a mattress: "Refuse that is too large or heavy for the container such as construction materials and the like may be placed alongside the container in such a manner that it cannot be scattered." Section 96.07(C) allows plastic bags outside the container for refuse only. Both sections carry the penalty at section 96.99. Source
• The Tinley Park set-out window is ordinance, not hauler policy. Section 96.08 provides that containers "shall be stored in, behind, or alongside of the principal or accessory buildings on a lot out of view from the street in a neat and orderly fashion" and "shall be placed in the parkway not prior to 4:00 p.m. the day preceding collection and removed from the parkway not later than 8:00 p.m. the day of collection, holidays excluded." Section 96.09(A) makes it unlawful for anyone, contractors and private scavengers included, to collect garbage, refuse or ashes outside 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Industrial zoning), and 96.09(B) requires refuse, yard waste and recycling for single-family detached units to be picked up weekly on the same day. Section 96.10 is what makes a mattress part of the basic service: "The basic charge shall entitle each family or occupant to a weekly collection of all household waste including garbage and rubbish, all landscape (yard) waste and shrub trimmings, and all recyclable materials." Section 96.11 defines REFUSE to include "wood furniture, bedding", so a mattress is refuse under the Village code and not a special category. Source
• Tinley Park Code of Ordinances section 96.99 sets the price of getting the set-out or disposal rules wrong: "In addition to any action for injunctive relief in relation to the abatement of a nuisance, any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this chapter shall be fined not less than $25 or more than $500 for each offense. Each day that a violation exists shall constitute a separate and distinct offense." That penalty attaches to section 96.06 (disposing of refuse anywhere other than through the contracted or licensed collector), 96.07 (container specifications) and 96.08 (the 4:00 p.m. / 8:00 p.m. parkway window), so a mattress left out early, left out after collection day, or left anywhere other than for the contracted hauler is a per-day offense. Source
• Not an option: The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials at South Suburban College, 15800 S. State Street, South Holland, is the drop-off the Village of Tinley Park's own garbage page sends Cook County residents to - and it will not take a mattress. Its accepted-items list, under Household and Textiles, states plainly "Not Accepted: Furniture, electronics, paints, mattresses and cleaners/liquids." The site is free: "Pricing: Free to residential customers only. Proof of residency may be required", commercial and industrial waste is not accepted, no appointment is needed, and the drop-off is on the north side of campus in the overflow parking lot, entered at the traffic signal on State Street. Hours are Tuesdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon, Thursdays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CHaRM does take clothing, shoes, bedspreads, blankets, sheets, quilts and pillows, electronics, small appliances, Styrofoam and household recyclables, and warns that materials may not be dropped outside operating hours, that the property is under 24-hour video surveillance and that "Illegal dumping is a crime. Violators may be fined up to $10,000 per Cook County, IL, Code of Ordinances ch. 30, section 131 (2017)." Contact charm@ssc.edu or (708) 596-2000 ext. 2440. Source
• Not an option: Homewood Disposal's transfer stations are the nearest self-haul sites to Tinley Park - East Hazel Crest Transfer, 17450 S. Laflin Ave., East Hazel Crest (Mon-Fri 5:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat 5:30 a.m. to noon, Sun closed, 708-957-5185) and Park Forest Transfer, 25 South Street, Park Forest (Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed weekends, 708-323-3104) - but they are not a practical answer for one mattress and they publish no price. The company's own page says "Yes, homeowners and businesses can use the transfer station to drop off large loads of waste material... You pay for the amount of material you drop off. Waste is charged by the ton. We are not setup to accept small loads of household waste." A one-ton (2,000 lb) minimum charge applies at both Illinois sites and "Customers may drop off loads weighing less than the minimum, but the applicable minimum charge will still apply"; for the rate itself the page says only "Please call for current disposal rates." General waste, roofing shingles, building materials and yard waste are accepted; tires, electronic waste, liquids, engines, oils, hazardous waste and all batteries are refused. Vehicles are weighed in and out, payment is cash, check or credit card, and hard hats and safety vests are required outside the vehicle. Source
• Not an option: The nearest Habitat ReStore to Tinley Park is the Oak Forest store at 15441 S Cicero, Oak Forest, IL 60452, run by DuPage and Chicago South Suburbs Habitat for Humanity, with donation doors open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will not take a mattress: the donation page's "Items we cannot accept" list names, in order, "Cribs; Textiles (clothing, curtains, bedding, linens); Used ladders; Mattresses; Hazardous or toxic chemicals...; Broken or otherwise nonworking items that cannot be resold". The ReStore does accept bed frames, nightstands, sofas, sectionals, bookshelves, tables, desks, chairs, appliances in working condition and building materials, and offers a free pick-up for heavy or large items, but the items must be outside in a weather-protected structure such as a garage because staff "cannot enter your home to retrieve your items". So a bed frame can be donated in the same trip that a mattress cannot. Source
• There is no state-run mattress recycling program a Tinley Park resident can use. The Mattress Recycling Council, which runs the Bye Bye Mattress collection network, lists its program states as California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon only - "We operate recycling programs in states that have enacted mattress recycling laws" - with 240+ collection sites in California, 135+ in Connecticut, 39 in Rhode Island and 27 in Oregon. Illinois is not among them, so there is no MRC collection site, no recycling fee at the point of sale and no free state-funded drop-off in Tinley Park or anywhere else in Cook County. Nothing on the Village's garbage page or on the contracted hauler's Tinley Park pages claims that a collected mattress is recycled rather than landfilled. Source Not confirmed: No Illinois recycler that dismantles household mattresses for residents, with a street address and a published price, was found for the south Cook County area.

• 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