How to get rid of a mattress in Johnstown, 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.

• Johnstown's codified ordinances carry the definitions its website leaves out, and bedding is in them. Chapter 1060, Garbage and Rubbish Collection and Disposal, § 1060.01(e) defines "Bulky wastes" as "large items of solid waste such as appliances, furniture, large auto parts, trees, large branches, stumps, asphalt, concrete, large rock, and other oversize wastes of large size which precludes or complicates handling by normal collection or disposal methods." A mattress is not named there, but § 1060.01(u) puts it inside "Rubbish," which "include, but are not limited to, corrugated cardboard, paper, wood, rags, used clothing; discarded or abandoned bedding; discarded or abandoned carpets; discarded or abandoned oil cloth and linoleum" — so discarded bedding is refuse the city's chapter contemplates, even though the figure of a fee never appears. Collection is mandatory and contracted: § 1060.03(a) provides that "All refuse from family units shall be collected by employees of the City, under the supervision of the Director, or collection may be contracted out to one or more private haulers after competitive bids are received by the City as prescribed by law." The chapter sets no bulk allowance, no bulk fee and no bulk schedule anywhere — the one-item-a-month rule exists only on the city's web page, not in the code. The city's own container limits are small: § 1060.01(b) allows authorized containers of "ten to thirty-two gallons capacity, loaded weight not exceeding fifty pounds," and § 1060.01(f) caps a bundle at "not exceeding four feet in its longest dimension, two feet in diameter nor twenty-five pounds in weight." A twin mattress is 75 inches long and a queen 80, well past the four-foot bundle limit, so a mattress cannot be set out as ordinary refuse under the chapter — it has to go as the bulk item. Source Not confirmed: Chapter 1060 sets no bulk-item allowance, charge or schedule. The monthly allowance appears only on the city's website, so the code neither authorizes nor prices it. Not confirmed: The four-foot bundle limit in § 1060.01(f) governs bundles, not bulky waste, and the chapter sets no dimension limit on a bulky item at all. Whether Pro Disposal applies one is not published. Not confirmed: § 1060.19 Refuse Collection Fees was not read in full; the four-month figures on the city website are the only rates established here.
• Johnstown's set-out window and its dumping penalty both come from Chapter 1060, and the penalty is unusual in being a cleanup charge rather than a fine. On timing, § 1060.18(c) provides: "Refuse containers shall be set out for collection, no sooner than twenty-four hours prior to collection, not more than five feet from the side of the street or alley from which collection is to be made, unless, because of topography or other features, the Director makes other arrangements for the family unit in question." On dumping, § 1060.16(a) provides that "No person shall place any refuse in any street, alley or other public place, or upon any private property, whether owned by such person or not, within the City, except in proper containers, as described in Section 1060.01, for collection or under express approval granted by the Director," and names "bulky" refuse first in the companion prohibition on depositing refuse into water. § 1060.16(b) is the one that bites a householder who leaves a mattress out: "Any unauthorized accumulation of refuse, on any premises is hereby declared to be a nuisance waste and is prohibited. No property owner shall fail to remove any existing accumulation of refuse within twenty-four hours of receiving a notice of violation issued by the Director or his or her representative. A minimum twenty-five dollar ($25.00) fee will be collected for services rendered if compliance has not taken place within the 24-hour period." Non-payment of the garbage fee is handled as a crime, not a fine: § 1060.99(a) provides that "The penalty for failure to pay refuse/garbage collection fees as established by the City shall be deemed a violation of 18 P.S. Sec. 3926, titled, Theft of Service," and § 1060.21 adds that a property owner found unregistered "will be responsible for the payment of all past due fees, penalties, interest and a twenty-five dollar ($25) processing fee." Source Not confirmed: § 1060.16 sets no dollar fine for illegal dumping itself — only the minimum $25.00 cleanup fee once a 24-hour notice period lapses. Whether a larger penalty applies under another chapter was not established. Not confirmed: Johnstown's chapter sets no apartment or multi-unit rule specific to bulky items; § 1060.17(a) requires only that "Sufficient refuse containers based on the number of dwelling or family units shall be provided by the owner of the premises."

• 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