How to Get Rid of a Mattress in Des Moines, IA (5 Local Options)
If you live in Des Moines and are looking for a way to get rid of an old mattress, you have come to the right place. Iowa has begun to implement more strict mattress disposal regulations with many donation centers and landfills no longer accepting them.
Luckily, there are still some great mattress disposal options available to residents. In this article we have included 5 local options from a statewide curbside mattress recycling service to donation and drop off options.
5 Ways to Dispose of a Mattress in Des Moines
Option #1: A Bedder World Mattress Recycling (Des Moines) – Curbside Pickup
A Bedder World offers curbside mattress removal and recycling services throughout the entire Des Moines area.
You can easily book and pay for a pick up online 7 days a week (Book a pick up here). Then put your mattress items outside by 8am on the day of pick up and the Bedder World team will come by and grab them and responsibly dispose of them.
To date A Bedder World has recycled over 1 million mattresses and has saved over 26 million sq.ft. of landfill space.
- Serving a 50 mile radius around the City of Des Moines
- Over 1 million mattresses recycled
- Easy curbside pick up
- Book and Pay online with 100% upfront pricing.
- Residential and Commercial Services
Option #2: Donate to The FreeStore of Des Moines
If your mattress is in good condition you may want to consider donating it to an organization that will find people who can use it.
IMPORTANT: The major donation centers like Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, etc… DO NOT accept mattresses anymore.
But luckily, the Freestore of Des Moines does accept mattresses and furniture in good condition.
What is the FreeStore?
The FreeStore was started in 2001 to provide furniture to women leaving the domestic violence shelter in Des Moines. As the community learned of our mission, it responded generously and we were able to expand our services to referrals from all Iowa DV agencies and other Des Moines human services agencies, schools and churches. The first year, 2001, we gave furniture to 7 families. Now we serve over 250 families a year with over 200 tons of furniture. Items we can’t use are passed to other agencies, whenever possible.
Wanting to schedule a furniture donation pickup? Click HERE.
You can also donate furniture at our warehouse – hours are 9-11 on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
11th and Keo in Des Moines
Option #3: Drop-Off at a Local Landfill
We always recommend recycling or donating your mattress before sending it to the landfill. Mattresses are hard to compress and break down and take up a lot of unnecessary space. If this is your only option you can drop your mattress at one of the 2 local landfill locations listed below.
1. Metro Park East Landfill
12181 NE University Ave.
Mitchellville, IA 50169
515.967.2076
Monday-Friday*
6:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Saturday*
Spring-Summer (Apr. 1-Oct. 31)
7 AM – 2 PM
Fall-Winter (Nov. 1- Mar. 31)
8 AM – 1 PM
*Closed on Sundays and major holidays
Payment is required at the time of service. Cash, personal checks, business checks, and VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover credit and debit cards are accepted.
Charge Account Customers: Set up a charge account with us to receive invoices and online payments
2. Des Moines County Landfill
Contact Details
1818 West Burlington Ave.
Burlington, IA 52601
Our sanitary landfill takes in approximately 200 tons of garbage per day from the commission’s member communities.
All loads entering and leaving this facility need to be tarped or secured to stop litter from leaving the load. A $10.00 fee will be added to each load that is not secured or tarped. This fee will raise in $10.00 increments for each offence.
Public Drop Off Area
We have public drop off areas for residents to place trash, yard waste, demolition, tires, and scrap metal. Some special points are:
- Clean, fully paved, convenient
- Allows passenger vehicles to unload without entering active fill areas
- Improved safety to both small vehicles and heavy equipment.
- Convenient loading of compost & woodchips (when available)
Option #4: Sell or Giveaway on De Moine’s Craigslist or Facebook
If your mattress is in decent shape you may want to consider giving it away or selling it online. There is a large market of people looking to get a lightly used mattress for a discount rather than spending hundreds to thousands on a new one. If you are willing to go the craigslist or facebook route you can almost certainly get rid of a mattress as long as it doesn’t have any sanitary concerns or major issues.
For a successful sale be sure to take nice pictures and ensure potential buyers that it does not have any stains and is bed big free. Happy selling!
Option #5: DIY Mattress Recycling
If you want to save some money and do the environment a favor you can opt to recycle your mattress yourself. This is a small project that includes the physical tearing apart of the mattress followed by the recycling of each material inside (metal and foam). We have a full article here.
To start you will want to tear off the cover and separate the metal and foam materials inside.
You can take the metal to a local scrap metal yard (like scrapprocessorsiowa.com/) where they will likely even give you some cash for it. They will then melt it down and recycle it.
You can take the foam to a local business like a carpet manufacturer where they will use it to make carpet padding. Check craigslist for people looking for used foam and call around and you will be able to find someone who will take it off your hands.
We hope this article helped you to find a way to get rid of your mattress that works with your budget and your specific mattress condition. Des Moines luckily has quite a few more options available to residents than many other cities across the country.
