How to get rid of a mattress in Havre de Grace, 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.

• Not an option: Havre de Grace runs a full city curbside service and excludes a mattress from it by name. The 2026 Residential Curbside Collection Guide, updated January 8, 2026, lists under household trash "NOT ACCEPTED": "Hazardous waste" and "Mattress/box spring, carpets, toilets, doors, windows, wood, pallets, furniture, car parts, wet latex paint cans, vacuums", adding "Excessive amounts of trash, and trash placed out for evictions or home clean-outs will not be collected by the residential hauler". A page later the guide answers the question directly under "HOW DO I DISPOSE OF ITEMS NOT ACCEPTED as Regular Household Trash, Recyclables or Items No Longer Useable?": "Bulky Items such as: FURNITURE, MATTRESS, BOX SPRING, HOT TUB, TOILETS, TUBS, SINKS, WINDOWS, DOORS, SIDING, TILE, FENCING, PALLETS, WOOD, TIRES, ELECTRONICS…? Residents can: 1. Take to The Harford County Disposal Center 410.638.3018 $8.00 a car load, $11.00 a pick-up truck* load. *Size restrictions apply. No commercial vehicles Mondays - Saturdays, 7am to 3pm, 3241 Scarboro Rd, Street, MD 21154 Must show proof of Harford County residency 2. Contact a private hauler". The City's own metal route does not help: "Metal Item Collected Fridays - by City staff - reservation only. Call to schedule 410-939-5009 8am-3pm Monday - Thursday." Household trash goes to the Baltimore County landfill "because the Harford County Landfill is no longer able to accept such large volumes of trash. (Individuals can still take junk there.)" Source Not confirmed: No mattress-specific recycler, MRC / Bye Bye Mattress site or take-back was found serving Havre de Grace; Maryland has no statewide mattress program
• Havre de Grace publishes the tightest set-out window of the eight towns, and explains why. "Collections begin at 5:00 AM. Please place containers curbside after 6pm the evening before your scheduled day, or no later than 5am the day of collection." "Cans in: Remove from curbside by 8pm of collection day." "Start time for collections is 5 am. Why? The Baltimore County Landfill closes at 3 pm daily. In order to get all 1,000 households collected and emptied each day, the start time had to be adjusted." Trash and recyclables are collected the same day, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday by area; yard waste is Mondays all year. The guide also prices the mistake that most often turns a whole street's load into landfill: "Load Denied: Any non-recyclable items (such as pizza boxes, plastic bags) found in the hauler's load causes the entire load to be denied. This truck must then travel to Baltimore Co.'s Landfill and be emptied as trash... for a fee of $117.00 per ton." Containers must be "rubber, metal or plastic trash cans with handles and secure, tight-fitting lids. Barrels are not permitted," and when full "cannot weigh over 50 lbs." Residents "in gated developments, apartments, condos, and commercial or business properties will need to check with their service provider." The guide points readers to "City Code, Chapter 162 Solid Waste". Source
• Sources disagree: Havre de Grace's own code classes a mattress as a white good the City collects, which is not what the City's current guide tells residents. Chapter 162, Solid Waste, § 162-1 defines "WHITE GOODS" as "A class of material containing refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, metal items and mattresses," and "BULK ITEM" separately as "A class of material containing furniture, television sets and similar items." § 162-9 then treats the two differently: "White goods shall be placed at ground level at or near the curbline or at other locations approved by the contractor with the concurrence of the City. Notification for collection shall be as designated by resolution," but "Bulk item removal and disposal shall be the responsibility of the property owner or tenant of all properties." On the code's wording a mattress is a white good, and white goods are collected on notification — the Friday metal-item run, reservation only, at 410-939-5009. The 2026 Residential Curbside Collection Guide instead lists "MATTRESS, BOX SPRING" among bulky items the resident must haul to the Harford County Disposal Center or give to a private hauler. § 162-7 sets the curb window in law: "No earlier than 6:00 p.m. on the day preceding the day designated for collection… Refuse containers shall be removed from the curb by 8:00 p.m. of the collection day." § 162-13.1, added 7-17-2023 by Ord. No. 1110: "The annual tipping fee charged for solid waste disposal in the City of Havre de Grace shall be $107.50," collected quarterly, semiannually or annually. § 162-15 makes any violation a municipal infraction under Chapter 1, Article I, with each continuing day "a separate offense", enforceable additionally "by petition for injunction filed on behalf of the Mayor and City Council". Source Not confirmed: Whether the City's Friday reservation-only white-goods collection will in practice take a mattress, as the code's definition implies, or refuses it, as the 2026 guide states, was not established and no contact was made Not confirmed: The resolution that sets white-goods notification and the maximum number of containers under §§ 162-8 and 162-11 is not published on the City's pages

• 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