How to get rid of a mattress in Columbia, PA.

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.

• Columbia Borough runs no trash collection of its own, and so no bulk or oversized item collection and no mattress rule: every household hires its own hauler from a list the Borough approves. The Borough's Trash & Recycling page publishes that list in two parts. 'Approved Trash Haulers - Residential (Alphabetical)': 'B & L Carson Disposal LLC - 717-696-9453', 'Cauler Containers - 717-806-0991', 'Good's Disposal Service - 717-859-1879', 'Penn Waste/Waste Connections -717-767-4456', 'Shell's Disposal - 717-394-6640' and 'WM.COM Waste Management - 800-642-8850'. The commercial-only list repeats those six and adds 'Casella Waste Systems - 717-949-2363' and 'Republic Services of PA - 717-426-6423'. There is no borough-wide collection day on the page, no free allowance, no tag or sticker program, no bulk item run and no mattress policy, because there is no Borough program for any of those to attach to. The Borough gives Public Works as '(223) 246 - 3551'. Source Not confirmed: Because there is no Borough collection, there is no Borough price for a mattress. What a Columbia household pays turns on which approved hauler it has hired, and none of the six residential haulers' mattress terms is published on the Borough's page. Not confirmed: The Borough does not say which of the approved haulers will take a mattress, or on what notice, fee or wrapping terms.
• Columbia Borough's own ordinance is what makes each household responsible for its own disposal, and it is specific about the two ways out. Chapter 181, Solid Waste, adopted February 9, 2009 by Ordinance No. 798, provides at Section 181-4 that 'Each person who owns or occupies a residential unit shall provide proper collection and disposal of regulated municipal waste and designated recyclable materials generated at such residential units by either: A. Themselves delivering such materials to a facility; or B. Utilizing a permitted collector to collect and deliver such materials to a facility.' A 'FACILITY' is defined as a site designated or approved by LCSWMA, and Section 181-9A provides that 'No person shall store, process or dispose of any regulated municipal waste or designated recyclable materials except at a facility.' Hauling is licensed, not contracted: Section 181-8A requires that 'All persons who desire to collect on-site, store, process or dispose of regulated municipal waste or designated recyclable materials within the municipality shall obtain a collection permit from the municipality prior to performance of any such activities,' and Section 181-13B makes it a violation to be on the other side of that, 'Allowing a hauler without a license (a nonlicensed hauler) to collect or remove regulated municipal waste or designated recyclable materials from a residential unit, multifamily dwelling unit or nonresidential unit.' What the Borough does compel its haulers to collect is listed, and a mattress is not on it: under Section 181-7A(2), 'Each permitted collector shall schedule collections for tires, white goods, and yard waste at least once annually and shall give customers at least thirty-day advance notice of the schedule for such collections.' Set-out is regulated: 'CURBSIDE' is defined as 'Adjacent to the residential unit; and ... No more than five feet from the public street used by collection vehicles,' and Section 181-7D(2) requires that 'Except when placed for collection in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, all recycling containers and refuse containers shall be securely stored out of the public view (not in front of a unit or in any public alleyway).' Section 181-20H is the rule that catches a mattress left out: 'No empty boxes, barrels, appliances, furniture, household fixtures, commercial fixtures or any other refuse of any kind shall be left upon any pavement, sidewalk, street or alley within the Borough except in accordance the provisions of this chapter.' Section 181-20D adds that 'No person shall deposit, throw or place refuse on the property of another without the consent of the owner.' The penalty is set by Section 181-14A: a violator 'shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, be sentenced for each violation to pay a fine of not more than $600 and costs of prosecution and, in default of the payment of such fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than 10 days. Each violation of any provision of this chapter, and each day that such a violation shall exist, shall constitute a separate violation and offense.' Section 181-14B and Section 181-15 impose that liability 'jointly and severally' on the occupant and on the owner, landlord or condominium owners' association, and provide that 'the owner of a premises may not assign or delegate any duties imposed upon such owner by this chapter ... to any tenant or occupant of the premises.' Source Not confirmed: Chapter 181 nowhere uses the word mattress. It names tires, white goods and yard waste as the collections a permitted collector must schedule each year, and a mattress falls under no category the Borough regulates by name. Not confirmed: The Borough's policies and procedures, adopted by resolution under Section 181-12 and said by Section 181-7A(4) to set the collection schedule, are not published on the Borough's website - the chapter says a copy 'is on file in the Borough offices' - so any set-out window or container limit they impose is not established. Not confirmed: The code is current only through legislation of October 10, 2023 as published, so anything adopted since is not covered.

• Operator location page gives 219 Street Road, West Grove PA 19390; DEP permit 101069 directory gives 261 Street Road. Preserve both; no automatic address overwrite or branch merge. Source
• Seven facility cards distinguish YCRRC/Small Load Drop-Off at 2651 Blackbridge Road from management at 2700, recycling at 2685 Blackthorne Court, ash site, recreation and sanitary landfill. Operator ZIP 17406 differs from DEP YCRRC ZIP 17402. Source
• No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on PA DEP pages as of 2026-09-22; mattress disposal is handled by local governments. Source
• PA DEP County Recycling Coordinators directory (select county) for local drop-offs and events; RecycleSearch for material-specific facilities; DEP Recycling Hotline 800-346-4242. DEP says bulky items go through your refuse hauler, or your county recycling coordinator if you have none. Source