How to Dispose of a Mattress in NYC

Getting rid of a mattress in New York City is free. It is also one of the most commonly ticketed set-out mistakes in the five boroughs, and almost always for the same reason: the bag.

Here is the short version, then everything underneath it.

The Short Answer

Seal the mattress or box spring completely in a plastic bag, then place it at the curb between 6 PM and midnight the night before your trash collection day. DSNY collects it for free. No appointment. No phone call.

Three details decide whether it actually gets taken:

1. The bag must fully enclose the item and be sealed shut. Any color except red or orange.
2. It goes out on your trash day, not your recycling day.
3. You can set out up to six large items per collection day.

Miss the bag and two things happen. Sanitation leaves the mattress on the sidewalk, and the property owner can be fined.

Why the Bag Rule Exists

Bed bugs. An uncovered mattress at the curb puts them on the truck, on the crew, and on the next block. So the city made encasement a legal requirement rather than a suggestion, and the fines escalated with repeat offenses at the same address.

Current DSNY penalties for improper mattress or box spring disposal:

Escalation is tracked within a 12-month period, so a second summons a year after the first is treated as a first offense again.

In a rental building, that summons goes to the building. Supers know this, which is why plenty of them will stop you at the trash room door with a bare mattress.

How to Set Out a Mattress for DSNY, Step by Step

1. Look up your collection day. Trash days are set by address, not by borough. Check the DSNY collection schedule at nyc.gov or call 311. Large items that are not recyclable go out on a trash day only.
2. Buy the right size bag. The city does not supply them. Home improvement stores, hardware stores, and moving supply centers all carry them, sized twin through king. Buy the size you actually own. A queen shoved into a twin bag splits at the seam, and a split bag is an unbagged mattress as far as enforcement is concerned.
3. Bag it in the bedroom. Not in the hallway, not on the sidewalk. Stand the mattress up, slide the bag over it, and tape every opening shut with packing or duct tape. Doing this upstairs means nothing shakes loose on the way down.
4. Get it down without tearing the plastic. Stair rails, door latches, and elevator thresholds are what actually ruin the bag. Two people and a slow trip beat one person and a repair job with tape at the curb.
5. Place it correctly. Between 6 PM and midnight the evening before collection. Keep it out of the street, off the front of a neighboring property, and clear of the sidewalk path. Blocking pedestrian traffic is its own violation.

Do Not Forget the Box Spring and the Frame

A box spring follows the same rule as the mattress. Bag it, seal it, set it out with the mattress. Two items against your six-item limit.

The frame is different, and this is where people guess wrong:

• Metal or mostly rigid plastic frames go out on your recycling day.
• Wood frames go out on your trash day.
• If the frame is disassembled, tie the pieces into bundles no larger than 2 feet by 4 feet.

Splitting a bedroom across two collection days is normal. Plan for it instead of piling everything at the curb in one night. If the frame is staying but moving with you, furniture moving covers the disassembly and reassembly.

Your Four Options, Compared

Retailer Haul-Away Is the Most Overlooked Option

If a new mattress is being delivered, ask about old mattress removal when you schedule the delivery, not when the truck arrives. Most retailers and mattress brands will take the old one at the same time, sometimes for free and sometimes for a modest fee. It costs one phone call, and it removes the entire problem, including the bag.

Can You Actually Donate a Mattress in NYC?

Sometimes, but the bar is higher than people expect and it is not a fallback plan for a mattress you no longer want.

Organizations that accept used mattresses generally require:

• No stains, tears, sagging, or odors
• Intact manufacturer law tag
• No history of bed bugs
• Recent enough to have real life left in it

Many national charities decline mattresses outright because of bed bug risk, and policies vary between chapters of the same organization. Call before you commit to anything, and check the DonateNYC directory on the city’s site to find organizations near you that are currently accepting bedding. If a nonprofit sends a truck and refuses the mattress on inspection, you still have the mattress and you have lost the week.

Mattress Recycling in NYC

Around three-quarters of a mattress is recoverable material. Steel springs go back into metal manufacturing, foam becomes carpet padding, and wood becomes mulch or particle board.

New York City does not run a public drop-off recycling program for household mattresses. Recycling happens through private facilities and through haulers who separate materials at their own transfer points. If keeping the mattress out of a landfill matters to you, ask any removal company you hire where the material ends up before you book. The ones doing it will tell you.

When the Curb Is Not a Realistic Plan

Free only works if the timeline and the building cooperate. These are the situations where New Yorkers end up stuck:

• No elevator. A queen mattress down four flights of a brownstone stairwell is a two-person job with real injury risk, and it is where most bags tear. Walk-ups are also the most common reason people book apartment moves with a crew instead of doing it themselves.
• Lease ends before your collection day. If you hand over the keys Friday and your block is collected Tuesday, the free route does not exist for you. Storage covers the gap when the dates do not line up.
• Sanitation holidays. Collection shifts around city holidays, which lands hardest on move-outs at the end of the month.
• Building rules. Many buildings control where anything sits before the set-out window. Ask your super before you leave a mattress in a hallway, lobby, basement, or trash room.
• A full apartment. Six large items per day disappear fast during a cleanout, which is the point where junk removal makes more sense than four weeks of curbside trips.

If you are already moving, this is usually a scheduling problem rather than a disposal problem. Our crews handle mattress disposal as part of the move, so the old mattress leaves the apartment on the same day the new furniture comes in, with the wrapping, the carry-down, and the building coordination handled by the crew.

If the Mattress Has Bed Bugs

Follow the city Health Department’s guidance rather than improvising:

• Wrap and seal the item in the room where it has been sitting, using heavy-duty plastic and tape over every opening.
• Cut or deface the mattress so nobody carries it into their apartment.
• Label it clearly so it is not taken from the curb.
• Set it out close to collection time, not days early.
• Treat the apartment before you replace the mattress. A new mattress in an untreated bedroom becomes an infested mattress.

Common Mistakes That Cost People Money

• Setting out an unbagged mattress and assuming it will be taken anyway.
• Setting it out on recycling day.
• Putting it at the curb in the morning, or two days early, which invites a sidewalk obstruction complaint on top of everything else.
• Buying one bag for a mattress and box spring. That is two bags.
• Skipping the bed bug label.
• Exceeding six large items on a single collection night during a cleanout.

Getting Rid of a Mattress When You Move Out of NYC 

Moving out and the mattress is the last thing standing between you and an empty apartment? Our NYC crews can wrap it, carry it down, and take it with them on move day. See what mattress disposal includes or get a quote.