How to get rid of a mattress in St. Louis

The short answer

If you live in the City of St. Louis, you can put a mattress out for the monthly bulky pickup during your collection week, or haul it yourself to the North or South transfer station on a weekday. If you live in St. Louis County or Illinois, your city or trash district's hauler sets the rule. If you want it gone today from the bedroom, a flat pickup is $103 for a queen, $114 for a king and $143 for a mattress and box spring set.

Option 1: the City's monthly bulky pickup

City residents pay a $14 per month per unit solid-waste fee, billed quarterly on the water bill, and bulky pickup is included in it. The catch is the schedule and the limits.

• Once a month. Items go out by 6:00 am on the Monday of your collection week.
• Alley or curb. If your block has an alley, the mattress goes in the alley behind the house. Curbside blocks put it at the curb.
• Up to three items per pickup.
• No piece over 100 lbs, 6 ft long or 2 ft in diameter.

That last line matters for mattresses. Standard twin and full mattresses run about 75 inches long, and queens and kings about 80. On paper that is longer than 6 feet. Check the City's bulk item pickup page or ask the Refuse Division how they treat mattresses before you drag one down the gangway and leave it by the dumpster for a week.

Option 2: drive it to a City transfer station

City residents can drop off at the North or South transfer station, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 4:00. You need ID and your water or solid-waste bill. You get 12 loads a year, and a load is what fits in a half-ton pickup, up to 5 by 8 by 4 feet.

This works if you own a pickup and have a free weekday. A queen mattress will not fit in a sedan or most SUVs, and a box spring does not fold. Strap it flat and tie it down at both ends; a mattress catches wind like a sail on I-55 or I-44. Business, charity and nonprofit waste is not accepted, so a landlord clearing a rental unit is not the intended user.

Option 3: St. Louis County and Illinois

The City rules stop at the City limits. St. Louis County is split into dozens of municipalities plus unincorporated areas like Oakville, Mehlville, Affton and Lemay, and each runs or contracts its own trash service. Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Clayton, Florissant and Chesterfield all decide for themselves whether a mattress goes out with bulky items, needs a call-ahead, or carries a charge.

The same goes for Belleville, O'Fallon, Edwardsville and the rest of the Metro East. Look up your own city's hauler or trash district before you set anything out. Do not borrow a neighbor's answer from across Lindbergh or the river.

Option 4: sell it or give it away

A clean, newer mattress with no stains can sometimes find a taker on a neighborhood group, especially in August when students and medical residents are furnishing apartments around SLU, the Central West End and the Delmar Loop. In practice most used mattresses are hard to rehome. Many charities will not take them at all for hygiene reasons.

If you list one, be honest about age and condition, and set a deadline. A mattress that sits in a Bevo Mill hallway for three weeks waiting on a no-show buyer is a mattress you are still carrying downstairs.

Option 5: book a flat pickup

A queen and box spring priced one at a time would be $103 + $92 = $195, so the $143 set price is the one to pick. Add the metal frame and the whole bed is $143 + $68 = $211. The order minimum is $100, so a single twin at $82 is billed at $100; add a nightstand at $57 and you are at $82 + $57 = $139.

The crew carries it from wherever it is — a third-floor flat in Tower Grove South, a finished basement in Florissant — with no stairs fee.

Getting it out of a St. Louis flat

The City's brick two-family and four-family flats were not built with mattresses in mind. Interior stairs are narrow and often turn at a landing. A few tips if you are moving it yourself:

• Bag it first. A mattress bag keeps it clean on the way through shared halls and keeps it dry if it has to sit in the alley.
• Stand it on its long edge and walk it down, one person below taking the weight.
• Box springs do not bend. If it will not clear the turn, it will not clear it. Do not force it into the plaster.
• Watch the weather. Spring storms and summer humidity soak an uncovered mattress fast, and a wet one is heavier and less likely to be collected.

Which route makes sense

Use the City's bulky pickup if your mattress qualifies, you have fewer than three items, and you can wait for your week. Use a transfer station if you have a truck and a weekday. If you are in the County or Illinois, start with your city's hauler. Book a pickup when it is upstairs or in the basement, when there is more than one piece, or when the move-out is this week. You can price it from a photo at the instant quote page in a couple of minutes.

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