How to get rid of a mattress in Kearny, NJ.

No appointment: 'Town residents are allowed two (2) bulk items of waste each scheduled garbage pickup,' and bulky waste is 'large items of waste material such as, furniture, mattresses, carpeting'. Because a mattress and a box spring count as two items, one bed fills the allowance for that pickup. Wrapping is required — 'all mattresses or box springs put out for collection must be wrapped in plastic' — and Code § 20-1.4a.2 adds that 'rubbish' which 'cannot be deposited in a receptacle' must be 'securely bundled in such a manner as to permit easy handling and to prevent the same from being scattered.' Garbage is collected twice weekly by zone: Zone 1 (Blue) Tuesday and Friday, Zone 2 (Red) Monday and Thursday, Zone 3 (Green) Wednesday and Saturday. A monthly Clean Out day is also scheduled, with the date given on the recycling calendar. Set-out on a residential street is tight: Code § 20-1.4c allows nothing on the sidewalk 'except on the designated collection day or six hours prior thereto', and empty receptacles may not remain 'more than four hours after the contents have been collected'. On the commercial streets named in § 20-1.4d — Kearny Avenue, Midland Avenue from Kearny Avenue to Davis Avenue, and Elm Street from Midland Avenue north to the existing railroad tracks — refuse goes out 'by no later than 6:00 a.m., but not prior to 5:00 p.m. the night before'. Large appliances are a separate route taken by appointment only.

Not confirmed: No charge is published for a third or further bulk item on one pickup, and the Town does not say whether extra items are left behind.

Not confirmed: The monthly Clean Out date is not given on the Town's garbage page, and whether the two-item allowance is lifted on that day is not stated.

Not confirmed: Where collected mattresses are taken is not published, so no recycling or disposal outcome is established.

Not confirmed: The plastic-wrapping requirement is published by the Town on its website; no ordinance section was found that imposes it.

From the provider’s own page, checked Nov 6, 2026. Not confirmed by phone.

Town of Kearny — Garbage Collection

Town of Kearny Code, Ch. 20: Solid Waste Management

A flat fee for the whole job rather than a per-item rate, which is what makes it the option when a clean-out runs past the two-item-per-pickup allowance on the ordinary route. The fee is set by Code § 20-1.7 (1973 Code § 83-9A, amended by Ord. No. 12-14-83, Ord. No. 4-25-84, Ord. No. 1-27-93, Ord. No. 2002-O-83 § 13 and Ord. No. 2012-22) and covers 'use of a Town owned truck for deposit of refuse or for cleanouts'. The section does not name mattresses, but the same chapter's definition of 'rubbish' covers 'paper, wood, rags, leather, rubber, mattresses, worn-out furniture, old clothes, carpets, old shoes', so a mattress is refuse for the purposes of Chapter 20. The Department of Public Works operates the truck.

Not confirmed: Code § 20-1.7 does not name mattresses; it covers refuse and clean-outs generally, and the chapter defines 'rubbish' elsewhere to include mattresses.

Not confirmed: No booking route, lead time, availability rule or volume limit for the town truck is published.

Not confirmed: Where material taken by the town truck is sent is not published, so no recycling or disposal outcome is established.

Not confirmed: Whether the $150 fee is charged per truck, per day or per load is not stated beyond the words 'a single fee'.

From the provider’s own page, checked Nov 6, 2026. Not confirmed by phone.

Town of Kearny Code, Ch. 20: Solid Waste Management