What mattress removal covers in a Los Angeles house
A queen or a king in a bedroom with the box spring under it, or a pair of twin mattresses on a bunk bed in a kid's room: mattress pickup covers the carry out of each piece. A mattress call turns on the mattress size and the route from the bedroom to the curb.
A mattress by itself
The mattress size, the age and whether it is still bagged all shape the way it goes out of the house.
A mattress and its box spring
A box spring is a separate piece. A standard box spring is a wooden frame wrapped in a thin cover and is lighter than the mattress. A split box spring is two half-width pieces that bolt together.
Beds that come apart
A bed frame is furniture, not a mattress job. A bed frame comes out separately: rails, slats, a headboard and sometimes a footboard. Keeping the mattress call about the mattress and the frame call about the frame is the cleanest split for a bedroom going out at once.
When mattress pickup fits, and when another route fits better
When this page fits
- A mattress and its box spring are coming out and the bedroom is next.
- A guest room's mattress has sat under a cover for years and is done.
- The old mattress is a queen or a king and the carry is through a tight hallway.
- A set of twin mattresses from a bunk bed is on its way out of the house.
When another route fits better
- LA Sanitation's bulky item pickup lists mattresses and box springs1 along with couches, tables and chairs, and the City calls that pickup unlimited curbside service at no additional charge1 for the single-family residents it serves. The City's pickup walks through how to schedule one.
- The State's Mattress Stewardship Program is run by the Mattress Recycling Council. Its Bye Bye Mattress page says an old mattress can be dropped off at no additional cost at participating locations2 in California.
Where an old mattress can go
The City's pickup, then the State's mattress program, as each one states it.
The City's bulky pickup
- Mattresses and box springs are on its list
- An unlimited curbside service for the households it serves
The State's mattress program
- California's Mattress Stewardship Program is overseen by CalRecycle
- Bye Bye Mattress says old mattresses can be dropped off at no additional cost at participating locations
- The Mattress Recycling Council runs the program as a nonprofit stewardship organization
Sources: LA Sanitation & Environment, Schedule a Bulky Item Pickup; CalRecycle, Mattress Product Management; Mattress Recycling Council, Bye Bye Mattress: Mattress Disposal in California.
What to have ready when you phone
- How many mattresses and how many box springs.
- Each piece's size by name only: twin, full, queen, king, California king, split king.
- Where each piece sits and the steps between the bedroom and the driveway.
- Whether a bed frame or anything else is going on the same call.
- Whether a bag has been put on a mattress or box spring yet.
Mattresses, the law and Los Angeles
A mattress does not fit the black bin. Oversized items such as furniture and mattresses do not fit the bin and can go on a free curbside bulky item pickup.3 Beyond that, Public Resources Code 42985, added by SB 254 and effective January 1, 2014,4 established the Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act to reduce illegal dumping, increase recycling and reduce public agency costs for end-of-life used mattresses, with the Legislature stating the intent that consumers have the opportunity to drop off their used mattresses free of charge.
CalRecycle says the State's Mattress Stewardship Program ensures used mattresses, box springs and futons are reused, recycled or properly disposed,5 that CalRecycle oversees the program, and that the Mattress Recycling Council runs it as the nonprofit stewardship organization created by mattress manufacturers, renovators and retailers. The State program walks through where a mattress can end up once it leaves the house.