Most Goodwill locations will not take a mattress. Here is why, and the options that actually work: state recycling, bulky item pickup, shelters and retailer haul-away.
Short answer: almost certainly not. Most Goodwill locations decline mattresses, box springs and bed frames outright, and the ones that make exceptions are rare. If you have a mattress you want out of your house and you would rather it be used than landfilled, Goodwill is usually the wrong first call. Here is why, and what actually works instead.
There are three reasons, and they are all practical rather than arbitrary.
Health and sanitation rules. Many states regulate the resale of used bedding, requiring sanitization, labeling, or both. Complying is expensive and complicated, so most nonprofit resellers simply decline the category. Bed bugs are the specific fear, and a single infested donation can contaminate a whole store's inventory.
Space and handling. A queen mattress is bulky, heavy and awkward. It occupies retail floor space that could hold dozens of smaller items with better turnover. For an organization measured on revenue per square foot, mattresses are a bad trade.
Resale demand. Very few people want to buy a used mattress, and the ones who do want it cheap. The item costs a lot to store and sells for little.
One thing worth knowing: Goodwill is not one company. It is a network of independent regional organizations, each setting its own donation policy. That is why you will find conflicting answers online. The only reliable way to know is to call the specific location you are planning to visit and ask before you load anything into your car. Showing up with a mattress and being turned away is a wasted afternoon.
These sit in a grey area and vary more by location than full mattresses do. A clean, unstained mattress topper or pad in its original packaging has a better chance of being accepted than a used one, since it is closer to a regular textile donation. Air mattresses, being deflatable and washable, are also more likely to be accepted than a traditional mattress. Crib mattresses are usually declined for the same health reasons as adult mattresses, and often for safety-standard reasons too. Again: call first.
If you are in California, this is your best option and most people do not know it exists. California charges a mattress recycling fee on every new mattress and box spring sold in the state, and that fee funds a statewide recycling program with free drop-off at participating collection sites. You already paid for it when you bought your current mattress. Steel, foam, fiber and wood all get separated and reused rather than buried. We explain the fee and where it goes in our guide to the California mattress recycling fee.
Most cities, including Los Angeles, offer bulky item collection for residents, often free or for a small fee. You schedule a pickup, set the mattress out on the appointed day and it is collected. This is the path of least effort if the mattress is genuinely at the end of its life. Our LA mattress disposal guide walks through the scheduling process and the local rules.
Organizations that furnish apartments for people leaving homelessness or fleeing domestic violence sometimes accept mattresses in good condition, and this is where a still-usable mattress does the most good. Their standards are strict: no stains, no sagging, no odors, no pest history, and often they require a mattress no more than a few years old. Call ahead and describe the condition honestly. Our guide on where to donate a mattress in Los Angeles lists what local organizations look for.
If you are replacing the mattress anyway, the simplest option is to let the store that delivers the new one take the old one. Most full-service mattress retailers, including us, remove the old mattress as part of white-glove delivery. It costs you nothing and takes zero planning.
If nothing else works, a mattress can be broken down into materials that individual recycling streams accept. Cut the fabric off, pull the foam and fiber out, and the steel coil unit goes to scrap metal, where it may even be worth a small amount. Wooden box spring frames can go out with wood waste. This is genuinely labor-intensive and involves a utility knife and a lot of dust, so treat it as a last resort.
A mattress worth donating is one you would be comfortable sleeping on yourself. Check for sagging deeper than an inch or so, visible staining, odor, tears in the ticking, and any sign of pests. If it fails any of those, it is a disposal item and not a donation item, and passing it along creates a problem for whoever receives it. Our guide on whether it is safe to buy a used mattress covers what makes one acceptable to pass along.
What you should never do is leave a mattress on the curb without a scheduled pickup, or put it in a dumpster you do not own. Both are illegal dumping in most cities and carry real fines. We cover the specifics in can I throw my mattress in the dumpster.
Generally no. The large majority of Goodwill locations decline mattresses and box springs because of state bedding resale regulations, sanitation concerns and the space they occupy. Goodwill regions set their own policies independently, so call your specific location before making the trip.
Sometimes, and more often than full mattresses. A clean, unstained topper or pad is closer to a standard textile donation and stands a better chance of acceptance, particularly if it is unused or still packaged. Policies still vary by region, so confirm with the location first.
Home pickup for large items is offered by some Goodwill regions, but mattresses are typically excluded from what they will collect even where pickup exists. If you need a mattress collected from your home, municipal bulky item pickup or retailer haul-away with a new delivery are the realistic options.
Used mattresses are the specific category most likely to be refused. Where a Goodwill region accepts bedding at all, it is usually limited to new or unused items in original packaging. Used mattresses are almost universally declined.
Homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, furniture banks and some faith-based charities accept mattresses in genuinely good condition. Their acceptance standards are strict on stains, sagging, odor and age. Call before you deliver, because a rejected donation just means you have hauled a mattress twice.
Yes, and in California it is straightforward and free at participating sites, funded by the recycling fee already paid when you bought the mattress. Recycling recovers steel, foam, fiber and wood. For a mattress that is past donation condition, recycling is the responsible choice over landfill.
If the reason you are looking into this is that your current mattress is done, the easiest path is to skip the donation problem entirely. We haul away your old mattress when we deliver the new one, across most of Los Angeles, at no extra charge. Browse what is currently on sale, take our sleep quiz to narrow down what fits your sleep style, or come lie on a few at one of our five LA showrooms. Every mattress comes with a free 120-night comfort guarantee.
Skip the comparison shopping. Answer a few questions and we'll narrow it down to the mattresses that actually fit your sleep style.
Buying guides and sleep advice, no email signup required.
