How to get rid of a mattress in Jackson, MI.

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.

• Jackson runs no collection of its own and, unusually, its ordinance forbids setting anything out at the curb at all. Code of Ordinances Chapter 12 (Refuse) licenses private haulers instead: Sec. 12-4 says "No person shall engage in the business of taking or carrying away and disposing of refuse without possessing a valid refuse collection vehicle license and/or refuse collection service license issued by the city," and every household contracts with one of those licensees. Sec. 12-6 sets the service floor - a licensee must "Make refuse collections at least twice during each week at single-family residences receiving regular refuse collection service" (once a week is allowed if the licensee demonstrates a recycling program with back door pickup at least monthly) and "Make refuse collections at least once each week at multifamily residences receiving regular refuse service." Collection is back door, not curbside. Sec. 12-2(a)(5) makes it unlawful to "Deposit, place, or store a refuse receptacle or bin on the curbside, in the driveway, in a public right-of-way, or in the public view in the front yard," and Sec. 12-2(b)(1) makes it unlawful for a business to "Encourage or require by any means that customers place a refuse receptacle or bin on the curbside for pickup." Sec. 12-3(e) adds that receptacles "shall not be placed where clearly visible from any public street." Most directly for a mattress, Sec. 12-2(a)(6) makes it unlawful to "Fail to remove any bulk item from the curbside, from in the driveway, from in a public right-of-way, or in the public view of the front yard" - the code uses the term "bulk item" in a prohibition but never defines it anywhere in Sec. 12-1, and the city collects no bulk item and prices none. The Sec. 12-1 definition of "Refuse" does reach bedding indirectly, covering "inoperable household appliances, or broken or damaged stuffed furniture." Penalties under Sec. 12-12: violations of Secs. 12-4, 12-5, 12-5.1 and 12-6 are punished under Sec. 1-18, and "Persons who violate any other provision of this chapter shall be punished pursuant to chapter 2.5 of this Code," the Administrative Hearings Bureau - so a bulk item left in public view is an administrative matter, and "Each day that a violation continues to exist shall constitute a separate offense." Sec. 12-11.2 adds that where the city removes refuse or discarded items itself, "The costs of removal and disposal ... plus an additional fee equal to the city's administrative costs, shall be charged to the last known owner and shall constitute a lien against the premises." Apartments are served, but by the licensed hauler at least weekly, not by the city. Sec. 12-3(f) requires every occupied dwelling unit of a multiple dwelling to have either its own receptacle sized for a week's refuse or access to a shared refuse bin of adequate capacity. Source Not confirmed: Chapter 12 uses the term "bulk item" in Sec. 12-2(a)(6) but never defines it, so the code does not establish whether a mattress is a bulk item for that prohibition Not confirmed: The city sets no bulk item charge and licenses no particular price; what a Jackson household pays a licensed hauler to take a mattress is not published by the city Not confirmed: The exact fine under chapter 2.5 of the Jackson Code for a bulk item left in public view was not read Not confirmed: No list of currently licensed refuse haulers was found published on the city's site
• The one occasion on which Jackson put mattresses in writing was the fall 2025 City Cleanup Day, which is worth recording because the city's current page no longer names them. The archived announcement gave the event as Saturday, September 27, 2025, 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the same two drop-off sites - the DPW Operations Center at 521 Water St and Nixon Park at 400 E. North St. Items that would be accepted were "grass clippings, leaves, brush, boxes, furniture, washers, mattresses, dryers, stoves, clothes, shoes" plus "metal and paper products." Items that would not be accepted were "batteries, tires, kitchen garbage, paint, liquid waste, appliances that contain or have contained freon," and "hazardous waste, electronics, motor oil and concrete/rocks." Eligibility was residents only, and strictly so: "This event is funded by the City of Jackson; therefore, it is available only to City of Jackson residents," with a photo ID required at drop-off. The city charged nothing, funding the event itself. So Jackson took mattresses at its September 2025 cleanup day; its later published list dropped the word, and the city has not said why. Source Not confirmed: The city has not said whether dropping "mattresses" from the later accepted list was a change of policy or only a shortening of the notice
• Jackson added a second ordinance in 2026 that names mattresses directly and bears on anything left in a public right-of-way. The City Council adopted an emergency ordinance on July 21, 2026 amending Chapter 17 (Nuisances) by adding Article X, Sections 17-215 through 17-223, to prohibit storing unattended or excess personal property in public rights-of-way, sidewalks and parks. Sec. 17-216 defines "Personal Property" to mean "any tangible property, and includes, but is not limited to, goods, materials, merchandise, tents, tarpaulins, bedding, sleeping bags, hammocks, sheds, structures, mattresses, couches, chairs, other furniture, appliances" and household items, while "excluding garbage, rubbish, biohazardous materials, contraband." "Excess Personal Property" means property that "cumulatively exceeds the amount of property that could fit in a 32-gallon container with the lid closed," and "Public Area" includes "any street, sidewalk, medial strip, space, ground, park, building or structure." Sec. 17-217(a) provides that "No person shall store any unattended personal property in a public area," with impoundment after a pre-removal notice allowing "a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours" under Sec. 17-218(a). Sec. 17-222 sets the sanction: a violation "may, in the discretion of the enforcing officer or City employee, be charged as a civil infraction punishable by a fine of $50.00 and the costs of prosecution," or be met with a warning or a referral instead, and "Each act of violation and every day upon which such violation shall occur shall constitute a separate offense." The article is aimed at encampments and is written to be enforced in a content-neutral and status-neutral manner, not at household set-out, but its terms are general and a mattress left on a Jackson sidewalk or street falls inside the definitions. It compounds Chapter 12's separate prohibition on leaving a bulk item in public view. Source Not confirmed: The copy published by the city is the adopting ordinance with the ordinance number and the publication date left blank, so the assigned number and the exact effective date are not established Not confirmed: Article X was not confirmed as codified in the Municode text of Chapter 17, which is current only through Ordinance No. 2026-01 of January 13, 2026

• WDS 450267, MIG000025706 regulatory page gives 6999 County Road 487, Atlanta MI 49709, versus operator 6751 Landfill Rd in inv5-005. Specific/legal names also have apparent spelling variants. Same named authority is an identity candidate; parcel/entrance/address equivalence unproven. Preserve both addresses. Source
• EGLE (July 27, 2026) says many Michigan communities host annual collection events for hard-to-dispose items including mattresses, lists summer–fall 2026 events, and points to EGLE's collection directory at Michigan.gov/egleHHW. No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on EGLE pages as of 2026-09-22. Source