You can’t put a mattress in your regular trash bin. You can’t leave it on the curb without paying for a bulky-item pickup. And if you dump it in an alley, the fine in Los Angeles can run from $250 to $1,000 — and the city has cameras now.
So what do you actually do with an old mattress in LA County? Here are the real options, ranked from cheapest to most convenient.
Option 1: Free bulky-item pickup from your city
Most cities in LA County offer a few free bulky-item pickups per year as part of your sanitation service. This is the cheapest legal option.
- City of Los Angeles: LA Sanitation offers free bulky-item collection. Schedule online or call 3-1-1. Pickup is usually within 7–10 business days.
- Long Beach: Free bulky-item collection through Long Beach Environmental Services. Call (562) 570-2876.
- Santa Monica: Free pickup through the Resource Recovery & Recycling division.
- Culver City, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills: All offer bulky-item pickup, scheduling and rules vary. Check your city’s public works site.
The catch with bulky pickup: you have to schedule, leave the mattress at the curb on the right day, and it usually goes to a landfill rather than being recycled.
Option 2: Drop it off at a mattress recycling facility
California law (SB 254) created a statewide mattress recycling program. There are drop-off sites across LA County where you can drop off a mattress for free — and the mattress gets recycled, not landfilled.
To find your closest free drop-off, use the Mattress Recycling Council’s locator. Some active LA County sites include:
- Sun Valley Mattress Recovery — sun valley, free for residents
- LA County Solid Waste sites in West Covina, Calabasas, and others — free drop-off, residents only
- Various Bye Bye Mattress collection events — held quarterly in major cities
The drawback: you need a truck or SUV big enough to haul the mattress, plus help loading it.
Option 3: Pay a junk removal service
If you can’t wait two weeks for bulky pickup and you don’t have a way to haul the mattress yourself, paying a junk hauler is the convenient option.
A reputable LA junk hauler will pick up a single mattress for around the cost of a single-item haul plus the LA County recycling fee (typically $25 per mattress because of the state recycling law). Look for a hauler that diverts mattresses to a recycling facility rather than dumping them.
If you have multiple mattresses, furniture, and other items going out at the same time, it’s usually cheaper per item to bundle them into one haul.
Option 4: Donate (if it’s in good shape)
If your mattress is less than a few years old, stain-free, and you can show it’s bedbug-free, some charities accept them:
- Habitat for Humanity ReStore — accepts mattresses in good condition
- Salvation Army Family Stores — accepts depending on the location, call first
- Local domestic-violence shelters — sometimes accept clean used mattresses
Most charities will not accept a mattress more than 5 years old or one with stains, tears, or visible wear.
What NOT to do
Do not, under any circumstances:
- Leave it in an alley or on the street. Illegal dumping fines in LA range from $250 to $1,000 and the city has been aggressive about prosecution since 2023.
- Put it in a public dumpster. Same penalty.
- Pay someone in cash to “take it away” without confirming they have a current LA city solid waste hauler permit. A lot of “$40 cash to make it disappear” trucks dump in city alleys or the Angeles National Forest.
The shortcut
If you’d rather not deal with any of this, call us at (323) 230-0777. Same-day pickup for a single mattress, fully insured, and we recycle every mattress we pick up through certified Bye Bye Mattress facilities. We text you a flat price before we drive out, and the LA County recycling fee is included.
No curb dragging. No two-week wait. No risk of an illegal dumping ticket.