How to get rid of a mattress in Greenbelt, MD.

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.

• Greenbelt charges for refuse by the bag under Save As You Throw: a base collection fee of $240 per household per year covers the fixed cost and includes recycling, and landfill cost is then paid either through official SAYT bags (8 gallon $0.80, 13 gallon $1.25, 33 gallon $2.00) or a MaxTrash sticker at $70 for six months, $140 a year, allowing up to three large bags a week. Regular trash "will only be collected if it is placed in approved purple bags or if you subscribe to the Max Trash service". Under SAYT, "Bulk trash now requires you to call Public Works in advance at (301) 474-8004." Source Not confirmed: the City does not state whether a bulk item such as a mattress needs a SAYT bag, a sticker or any payment at all — no bulk charge is published either way, so no price is recorded here
• Greenbelt City Code Chapter 17, Solid Waste, sets the local rules a reader can actually be fined under. Sec. 17-1: "Violations of this chapter shall be municipal infractions", with a fine of "Fifty dollars ($50.00) for each initial offense", "One hundred dollars ($100.00) for a second violation of the same regulation occurring within six (6) months" and "Two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for each subsequent violation of the same offense occurring within six (6) months". Sec. 17-28, Dumping, is the expensive one: "No person shall dump, throw or deposit ... garbage, refuse, litter, solid waste, or yard waste greater than one (1) cubic foot in volume", "Each/every cubic foot ... improperly dumped, thrown or deposited shall be considered a separate violation", and violation "shall be subject to a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each/every violation" — a dumped mattress is well over a cubic foot. Sec. 17-42(a)(2) requires containers to be "Placed on the service side for GHI residents and the street side for all other residences by 7:00 a.m. on collection day". Sec. 17-41: "Every residence and commercial establishment in the city shall subscribe to a refuse collection service." Sec. 17-26 lets solid waste be stored on improved private property only "in a container or bundled or otherwise placed so as to prevent scattering or blowing until such time as it is collected". Under the Clean Lot Ordinance the city may remove accumulated solid waste after ten days' written notice and charge the cost to the owner's next tax bill (Secs. 17-65 to 17-67). Source Not confirmed: Chapter 17 sets no earliest hour for putting items out, only a 7:00 a.m. deadline

• No Maryland mattress stewardship program in effect. HB0984 (2026RS, Mattress Stewardship Program - Establishment; prior HB0858 of 2025) would require a producer plan to MDE by July 1, 2031 and ban landfill/incinerator disposal from Jan 1, 2035; legislative page shows last status as House committee hearing (2/27), with no enactment. Source
• MDE Producer Responsibility page lists electronics, architectural paint, and packaging programs only; no mattress program. No statewide mattress landfill ban found on MDE pages as of 2026-09-22. Source
• MDE Recycling page says each county and city runs its own recycling program and tells residents to check their county's recycling website or call the county. Source