Mattress disposal laws in St. Louis: what actually applies

The short answer

There is no special St. Louis mattress law. What applies is the general rule on illegal dumping in Missouri, the City of St. Louis bulky-item rules if you live in the City, and your own municipality's hauler rules if you live in the County or the Metro East. Follow your local collection rules or have it picked up — a queen is $103 flat, a set is $143.

Missouri state law: the dumping statute

Missouri's littering and dumping statute, RSMo 577.070, covers placing "garbage, trash, refuse, or rubbish of any kind" on public or private property without the owner's consent. A mattress counts. The baseline offense is a Class C misdemeanor. It rises to a Class A misdemeanor if the dumping creates a substantial risk of injury or property damage, or for repeat offenders.

In practice that means the vacant lot at the end of the block, the back of a strip-mall dumpster in Hazelwood, or a stranger's alley in Dutchtown are all off limits. So is leaving a mattress beside your apartment complex's dumpster if the property has posted against bulky items — that is the owner's property and the owner did not consent.

Is there a Missouri mattress recycling program?

A handful of states, including California, Connecticut and Rhode Island, run mattress-recycling programs funded by a fee when you buy a new one. We have not found an equivalent Missouri program. That means there is no state drop-off network to point you to, and no fee already paid that covers disposal. Disposal is handled locally: your City or municipal collection, a transfer station, or a private pickup.

If that changes, it will be on the state's books, not a retailer's flyer. Check before relying on any program you hear about secondhand.

City of St. Louis rules

The City's bulky pickup is the legal way to set a mattress out if you live inside the City limits. The rules, as the City publishes them:

• Bulky pickup is monthly, during your designated collection week.
• Items go out by 6:00 am on the Monday of that week.
• Alley residents put items in the alley behind the home; curbside residents at the curb.
• Up to three items per pickup.
• No piece over 100 lbs, 6 ft long or 2 ft in diameter.

Standard mattresses are 75 to 80 inches long, which is over 6 feet. Ask the City how they handle mattresses before you set one out. Putting things out in the wrong week, or putting out a fourth or fifth item, is how a legal set-out turns into a pile the City does not take and a neighbor reports.

St. Louis County and Illinois

The County is not the City. Dozens of municipalities, plus unincorporated areas served by contracted trash districts, each set their own bulky rules. That covers Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, University City, Florissant, Ferguson, Chesterfield, Ballwin and the unincorporated South County communities like Oakville, Mehlville and Affton.

Across the river, Belleville, O'Fallon, Edwardsville, Granite City and Alton each run or franchise their own trash service. We will not guess at their mattress rules here; a wrong rule is worse than none. Look up your own city or district's page, or call the hauler on your bill.

If you rent, add your lease and HOA or complex rules to the list. In West County subdivisions, the HOA often restricts curb piles more tightly than the city does.

Bed bugs change the handling, not the law

If a mattress has or may have bed bugs, bag or encase it in the room, seal it, and only then carry it through the house. Dragging an open infested mattress down a shared stairwell in a four-family flat, or through a CWE high-rise lobby, spreads the problem to every unit on the route.

Do not leave an infested mattress in the alley unwrapped for someone to pick through. Tell whoever collects it. With us, it changes how the crew handles it, not the price — a queen is $103 either way.

The legal, no-wait option

A king set on a motorized base is $143 + $118 = $261. Two twin mattresses from a kids' room are $82 + $82 = $164. Vetted, insured local haulers carry it out from any floor, with no stairs fee, and we recycle whatever we can. Nothing waits in the alley for collection week.

A simple way to stay on the right side of it

Never put a mattress anywhere you would not be comfortable explaining to the property owner. In the City, that means the alley or curb on your own collection week, within the limits. In the County or Illinois, it means whatever your hauler says. Otherwise, keep it indoors until it is picked up. A mattress that never sits outside never becomes anyone's code-enforcement problem.

Frequently asked questions