How to get rid of a mattress in West Chicago, 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.

• West Chicago's code sets the set-out window and makes the program compulsory. Chapter 9, Article VIII, section 9-142(e), Placing material for collection, reads: "All material shall not be placed at the curb or alley for collection prior to 6:00 p.m. on the day before the collection. The collection day shall be determined according to the agreement reached between the contractor and the city." Section 9-142(b) requires that "Every resident shall use the scavenger servicing the areas in which the residence is located" and that "No residence shall use the disposal service of any scavenger not under such contract with the city", with a building-permit exception for construction debris; it ties payment to the water account, and if the fee is unpaid for 120 days the City "is authorized to terminate sewer and water service". Section 9-142(c) makes it "unlawful for any resident to deposit his garbage or garbage containers on the property of another for the purpose of having such garbage picked up by a scavenger", and 9-142(f) makes recyclables City property once set out, so "It shall be unlawful for any other persons, firms or corporations to remove any recyclable material set out". Section 9-142(g) caps what a shop may add to a sticker: retailers "may add no more than five cents ($0.05) to the cost of each sticker". Under 9-141(b) a residential unit is a single- or two-family residence, which is why larger buildings fall outside the sticker program. Section 9-144 requires scavengers to dispose of refuse outside the city or at an approved transfer station. Source Not confirmed: Article VIII sets no fine figure of its own for a set-out violation, and the code does not name mattresses or bedding anywhere in the article.
• The City's own public works page on illegal dumping uses a mattress as its example of the problem and cites the law that applies. It describes "fly dumping of bags of trash, old mattresses or appliances thrown down a stream bank, piles of construction debris or tires left on an empty city lot or even on private property". It cites "Section 21 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/21)" prohibiting open dumping, notes that sections 44(a) and 44(p)(1)(A) make illegal dumping "a Class A misdemeanor or a Class 4 felony", and points to "Section 47-5 of the Illinois Criminal Code" for dumping garbage on another's property without consent, with escalating penalties for repeat offenses. To report it, the page says "It is best to call the non-emergency number for your local law enforcement agency or local health department. You may also contact the city or county solid waste agency." Source Not confirmed: The City page cites state law and does not state a local fine amount for fly dumping.
• West Chicago also enforces where the cart lives between collections. The Code Enforcement page's property maintenance standards require that "garbage and recycling carts be stored in a secure location, not visible from the street, and placed at the curbside the morning of collection. Carts should be removed from the curbside promptly after pick-up", and that "Yards must be maintained free of garbage and debris." Non-compliance draws a Notice of Ordinance Violation, with continued non-compliance going to court appearances and fines set through Administrative Adjudication. Source Not confirmed: The page does not publish the fine amounts set by Administrative Adjudication.
• Not an option: There is no public drop-off anywhere in DuPage County that will take a household mattress, so West Chicago's curbside program is the whole answer. The County's own recycling page splits its work into "curbside and non-curbside (drop-off) recycling" and the programs it actually runs are electronics recycling with fees for televisions and monitors, clothing and textile recycling partnerships, free paper recycling through Midwest Paper Retriever, the Household Hazardous Waste facility and PaintCare paint recycling. Mattresses, furniture and bulky waste appear on none of those lists, and for anything non-curbside the County offers only its Recycle Coach search tool and the address recycle@dupagecounty.gov or 630-407-6700. There is no county transfer station, convenience center or residents' drop-off day here for a mattress. The $3.12 sticker on the curb is the only route. Source
• Not an option: The Habitat ReStore that covers West Chicago - DuPage and Chicago South Suburbs Habitat for Humanity, 858 Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540, donation doors Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. - will not take a mattress. Its donation page accepts furniture including "Bookshelves, buffets/sideboards, tables, nightstands, chairs, sofas" and bed frames, working appliances, kitchen cabinets, doors, windows, lighting, flooring and building materials, but its published refusal list reads "Items we cannot accept: Cribs; Textiles (clothing, curtains, bedding, linens); Used ladders; Mattresses". The frame is welcome and the mattress is not, which saves a wasted trip down Route 59. Source
• Not an option: There is nothing mattress-specific for a West Chicago household. The Mattress Recycling Council's own program page lists only California, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Rhode Island, so Illinois runs no statewide mattress recycling program, charges no recycling fee at the point of sale and has no Bye Bye Mattress collection site. Across seventy-five Illinois cities researched for this site, no mattress recycler with a street address and published household terms has been found anywhere in the state, and none serves DuPage County. The village program is the only route, and neither the village nor its hauler says what happens to the mattress once it is collected. 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