How to get rid of a mattress in La Vergne, TN.

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.

• La Vergne is a city of 42,000 that puts refuse collection on the householder in its own code. Title 17, Refuse and Trash Disposal, chapter 1, section 17-105, headed Collection, reads in full: "It shall be the responsibility of each owner or occupant to provide for the proper collection of all refuse which accumulates upon his premises." The city reserves no route, names no contractor, sets no rate and grants no allowance. Section 17-103 requires each owner or occupant to "provide and keep covered an adequate number of refuse containers" that are "strong, durable, and rodent and insect proof", and 17-101 defines refuse as "garbage, rubbish, leaves, brush, and refuse as those terms are generally defined", expressly excluding dead animals and fowls, body wastes, hot ashes, rocks, concrete, bricks and similar materials. The rule that matters most to someone with a mattress and no easy option is 17-107: "The disposal of refuse in any quantity by any person in any place, public or private, other than at the site or sites designated for refuse disposal by the board of mayor and aldermen is expressly prohibited." Section 17-104 also makes it an offense for an unauthorized person to disturb or use a refuse container belonging to another, so a neighbor's dumpster is not an answer either. Source Not confirmed: Title 17 sets no penalty amount for disposal at an undesignated site under section 17-107, and names no hauler registration or licensing requirement of the kind neighboring Brentwood imposes.
• The one free collection La Vergne runs is for brush, and it is strictly vegetative. Public Works "provides a brush pickup service all year to the residents of the city free of charge", residents do not have to schedule it, and the truck works through the city on a six-week cycle, with the department posting its location to the La Vergne Public Works Facebook page. The limits are published: the maximum diameter of the limbs is 6 inches, limbs and stumps thicker than that will not be picked up, no piece may exceed 10 feet, and the pile "can be no larger than 5 feet by 5 feet by 10 feet long". Piles go within 4 feet of the edge of the road, or just inside the ditch where there is one so as not to block the flow of water, with cut ends toward the curb; brush on the paved street surface is prohibited. The service is for routine pruning and trimming done by the homeowner, and "The City will not pick up limbs that have been cut by a commercial trimming service." The truck "cannot handle vines, loose leaves or root balls", and the city instructs residents, "Do not include in your pile the following: plastic, metal, wire, cardboard, paper or glass." Crews may refuse a pile that is too large or unsuitable. No household item of any kind is within the scope of this route. Source Not confirmed: The brush pile exclusion list names materials rather than items, and does not name a mattress, furniture or household goods, so it is a scope limit on a vegetative route rather than an itemized refusal.
• A La Vergne household that has to haul its own refuse has a county recycling center inside the city, and the city publishes its rules. The Rutherford County Recycling Center is at 300 Sand Hill Road, La Vergne, TN 37086, 615-898-7739, open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The eligibility rule is county-wide, not city-wide: "The centers are for Rutherford County residential use only." The rules the city reprints are specific and worth knowing before loading a vehicle. "Only one visit per day with the equivalence of one level pickup truck load is allowed." Trailers of approximately 10 feet in length or less are allowed, it does not matter what is on the trailer, and where a trailer is pulled by a truck the center will take the load on the trailer or the truck but not both; no box trucks are allowed. On bulk, "No bulk items accepted on Sundays. Any item or material that goes into an open-top container is considered bulk. Only household garbage (such as kitchen bags, etc.) and recyclable commodities (metal not included) are accepted on Sundays." And on lifting: "The open-top containers stand about six (6) feet tall. If you need help getting an item over into them, you need to bring that help with you" - which is the practical obstacle for one person with a mattress. Also refused: commercial waste, scavenging, dumping when closed, propane and gas tanks, flammable fuels and oils, paint, televisions, computers, fluorescent light bulbs and ballast, and yard waste or brush, which go instead to the Rutherford County Landfill or Murfreesboro Mulch Facility at no charge. Source Not confirmed: The city's page states no mattress policy and no disposal fee for the Sand Hill Road center, and does not say whether a mattress may be left there or what it would cost, so neither is established for this site. Not confirmed: The page does not say what proof of Rutherford County residency is required at the gate.

• No statewide mattress stewardship program or landfill ban found on TDEC pages as of 2026-09-22; mattress disposal is handled by local governments. Source
• TDEC Materials Management page links a 'Where may I dispose of recycle items near me?' ArcGIS dashboard (arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/f7515b25ca29478a8adc6a9dc8c1f7c1); program supports 95 counties and solid waste planning regions. Source
• The ArcGIS dashboard TDEC links from its Materials Management page is titled "County Recycling Centers". Its correct address is arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/f7515b25ca29478a8adc6a9dc8c1f7c1 — this corrects the partially recorded id in st-tn-102 (the id f7515b25ca29478a8a1b9bd68a4bba51 returns "item cannot be found"). It is the statewide map residents use to find county recycling centers. Source
• TDEC's Waste Management Branch page lists the state's full set of solid waste programs — Solid Waste, Landfill Operators Certification, waste tire hauler, hazardous and medical waste, and Materials Management (Recovered Materials, grants, HHW, waste tires, organics, debris management, BOPAE household batteries/oil/paint/antifreeze/electronics). No mattress program, bulky-waste rule or disposal ban appears. The page also links the Solid Waste Dataviewer (dataviewers.tdec.tn.gov/dataviewers/f?p=19035:34001), which searches facility information, inspection reports, complaints and forms. It notes that, effective August 1, Materials Management moves into TDEC's Division of Stakeholder Engagement with programs and services continuing unchanged. Source
• Mattress Recycling Council's Program States page names exactly four program states — California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon. Tennessee is not among them, confirming there is no MRC-run mattress stewardship program or Bye Bye Mattress free drop-off network in Tennessee. Source