Start with the thing that saves you a week: no charity here will take it. Once donation is off the table, there are four routes left, and they run from $30 a piece at the curb to $139 flat with somebody else carrying it down the stairs. Here's what each one really costs, in order, with the Seattle details that decide which is right for your building.
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Upload a Photo & Get Quote →Seattle Public Utilities will collect a mattress through its special-items service: $30 per item, by appointment, curbside only, dropped onto your next regular garbage day. The terms are published at seattle.gov/specialitems.
The arithmetic catches people. A mattress and a box spring are two items — $60 — and if the frame is going too you're at $90 for a service that hasn't touched your bedroom. Then there's the physical part: SPU collects from the curb, so both pieces have to be walked down and out by you, and then they sit against the kerb or a street tree until the truck comes days later. A queen soaks through in one wet Seattle night, and a waterlogged mattress is heavier, filthier and far harder for anyone to recycle at the other end.
If you're outside the Seattle city line — Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Renton — this program isn't available to you at all. Skip to Route 3.
We'll be blunt, because the polite version costs people days. Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County generally refuse used mattresses outright, on hygiene grounds. It isn't about your mattress specifically; it's a category-level policy, and it holds even when the mattress is barely used, was in a guest room, or still has the tag on.
That matters because donation is where most people start. They call three charities over a week, get three declines, and only then begin looking at what it actually costs — usually with a move-out date now much closer. If you take one thing from this page: cross donation off first, then choose between the three routes that remain.
Furniture is a different story. Frames, headboards, dressers and sofas in resellable shape are collected free by all four of those organisations. It's the mattress itself that nobody wants.
King County Solid Waste, 2026 rates. A mattress or a box spring is $30 each at the transfer station, with a limit of six per day. That's on top of the $40.25 minimum load (up to 320 lb) and $243.38 a ton for garbage, plus a $25 unsecured-load fee if the load isn't properly strapped. So a queen and its box spring at Factoria is $40.25 plus $60 before you've counted the fuel — and $25 more if the straps weren't right. Stations: Factoria (Bellevue), Houghton (Kirkland), Shoreline, Bow Lake (Tukwila), Renton, Enumclaw, Vashon.
Inside Seattle. SPU's North Recycling & Disposal Station (Wallingford, N 34th St) and South Recycling & Disposal Station (8105 5th Ave S) publish roughly a $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and about $165 a ton. ⚠ Read those as as published — SPU's rate page is dated 4/1/2023, and a 2025 study cited a minimum closer to $32.60 and a commercial rate near $234.80 a ton. Confirm the current gate rate before you load up.
The part the rate card doesn't tell you: a queen mattress does not fit in most cars, and it will not stay strapped to a roof in Seattle rain — the wind at 55 on I-5 and a soaked, slippery surface are a genuinely dangerous combination, and an unsecured load is the $25 fee waiting to happen. Self-hauling a bed means a pickup or a box truck, straps, and a second person at both ends.
If a new bed is being delivered, ask the retailer directly whether the delivery crew will remove the old one. Many will, frequently at no charge, and it's the single easiest outcome available. Two limits to expect: it usually only covers the piece being replaced — a new mattress won't necessarily buy you box-spring removal too — and it depends entirely on the retailer and the delivery contractor, so get it confirmed when you order rather than hoping on the day. If it falls through at the door, you're suddenly solving this with a new bed in the hallway, which is the scenario our same-day slots mostly exist for.
Fixed from a photo before anyone is dispatched. The number contains the carry down from whatever floor the bed is on, the drive, and the disposal.
| Piece | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Crib | $90 |
| Bed frame | $92 |
| Twin mattress | $111 |
| Box spring | $124 |
| Full mattress | $126 |
| Queen mattress | $139 |
| Futon | $139 |
| King mattress | $154 |
| Bunk bed | $165 |
| Mattress + box spring (set) | $192 |
$95 minimum on a single-item trip — the floor for sending a truck and a two-person crew, so anything priced under it bills at $95. Most bed calls aren't one piece anyway: mattress, box spring and frame together, or the whole bedroom before a move. One photo, one quote, one trip. A full apartment prices as truck volume instead — quarter truck $325, half $580, three-quarters $790, full $985.
Third-party context: cost guides from Homeyou and Yelp Costs put an average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325. A single queen at $139 sits well below that, because you're paying for one item rather than for estimated truck volume.
On tax: Washington does not apply its ~10.35% retail sales tax to junk-removal service. A 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax (RCW 82.18) rides on the disposal portion and appears in your total.
| Route | Cost | Speed | Effort | Reality check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special items | $30 per item ($60 for a set) | Next garbage day | You carry both pieces down | Curbside only; Seattle city limits only |
| Donation | Free | — | — | Dead end. Charities refuse used mattresses |
| Self-haul, King County | $40.25 min + $30 per mattress or box spring, +$25 unsecured | An afternoon | High — truck, straps, two people | Limit 6 mattresses a day; a queen won't fit in a car |
| Retailer takeback | Often free | On delivery day | None | Usually only the piece being replaced; confirm at order |
| JunkRabbit | Queen $139 · set $192 · twin $111 · king $154 | Same day when a slot is open | None — we carry it down | $95 minimum; no stair fee, nothing left on the sidewalk |
No other item in this city has a season the way mattresses do. The University of Washington's on-campus dorm move-out deadline is noon on Saturday, June 13, 2026, with the busiest curbside stretch running June 10–13. Then comes the bigger one: a larger surge in late August, when the roughly 11.5-month off-campus leases across the U-District, Ravenna and Greek Row all turn within days of each other.
In both windows the mattress is the item people leave until last and then can't solve — it's the one thing they can't fit in a friend's car, can't donate, and can't put at the kerb without a booked appointment. Dorm twins, four-lease queens, and the futon that came with the apartment pile up in alleys across 98105 within about seventy-two hours. If you're in either window, book ahead; those are the days our slots go first.
Stairs are the actual job. Capitol Hill, First Hill and Lower Queen Anne are full of early-1900s buildings with three or four floors, one narrow stairwell, and no elevator. A queen doesn't fold and a box spring is a rigid rectangle that will not negotiate a tight landing. Every route on this page except the last one assumes the bed is already outside — and for these buildings, getting it outside is the entire difficulty. We carry it down at no extra charge, and there's no hill surcharge either, which matters on the Queen Anne grade.
You can't just put it out. A mattress left at the kerb outside a scheduled, paid SPU appointment is illegal dumping. Practically, it's also the item most likely to be tagged, photographed and reported, and it can sit there for weeks doing your building's reputation no favours. Book the appointment, or have it taken from inside — those are the two legitimate options.
Towers. Downtown, Belltown, South Lake Union, First Hill and downtown Bellevue buildings want a COI naming management (commonly $1M general liability) and a freight elevator reserved days in advance. We file it and book it, and your quote doesn't move.
If there's any chance the mattress is infested, seal it in a plastic mattress bag before it leaves the bedroom and tell whoever is collecting it. Nobody reacts badly to this — it's a routine job — and the disclosure changes only how it's bagged, staged and loaded. What causes real damage is an unwrapped infested mattress dragged through a shared stairwell and a lobby, which turns one unit's problem into the whole building's. Bags are a few dollars at any hardware store and they're the cheapest part of this entire page.
A mattress is one of the more recoverable bulky items there is: pulled apart it's steel springs, polyurethane foam, cotton and fibre padding, and a wood frame, four streams with genuine outlets. We route mattresses to recycling wherever a Puget Sound processor accepts the load, and only send to the tipping floor what nobody will take.
The incentive here is unusually well aligned. King County garbage tips at $243.38 a ton in 2026 — one of the steepest disposal rates in the country — and Washington's 3.6% refuse tax is calculated on the disposal portion, so a diverted mattress skips both the per-ton fee and the tax base. Seattle also enforces a garbage ban under SMC 21.36 covering recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste, tagging loads that arrive over roughly 10% contaminated. Doing this properly isn't optional for a hauler working here, and it's why a flat $139 stays a flat $139.
"Called three charities, all said no to a mattress. Wish I'd read that first. Booked here instead and the queen and box spring were gone the same afternoon."
"Move-out weekend in the U-District, fourth floor, no elevator. Two guys, ten minutes, exactly the price they quoted from my photo."
"New bed showed up and the delivery guys wouldn't take the old one. Booked in the morning, sorted by evening. No drama about the stairs."
Will Goodwill or the Salvation Army take a used mattress?
No. Evergreen Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul all decline used mattresses on hygiene grounds. Cross it off first — it's a dead end, not a long shot.
What does Seattle charge to collect one?
$30 per item through SPU's special-items pickup, by appointment, curbside only, on your next garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). Mattress plus box spring is two items — $60 — and two carries down.
What does the transfer station charge?
King County: $30 each for a mattress or box spring, limit six a day, on top of the $40.25 minimum load (≤320 lb) and +$25 if unsecured. SPU's own stations publish ~$35 minimum (≤420 lb) and ~$165/ton, but that page is 2023-dated — confirm the current rate.
How much do you charge?
Twin $111, full $126, queen $139, king $154; box spring $124; mattress and box spring as a set $192; bed frame $92, bunk bed $165, futon $139, crib $90. $95 minimum on a single-item trip.
Can I just leave it at the curb?
Only for a booked SPU appointment. Otherwise it's illegal dumping, and it's the item most likely to be reported and left sitting for weeks.
Will a queen fit in my car?
No, and a roof rack in Seattle rain is worse than it sounds — a soaked mattress gains serious weight, and an unsecured load is $25 extra at King County. Self-hauling means a truck and a second person.
Can you come during UW move-out?
Yes — book ahead. Dorm deadline is noon Saturday, June 13, 2026 (busiest June 10–13), and the larger surge is late August when off-campus leases turn.
What if it has bed bugs?
Wrap it in a sealed mattress bag before it leaves the bedroom and tell us when you book. It's a routine job; the disclosure just changes how we bag and stage it.
Almost certainly not. Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul generally refuse used mattresses on hygiene grounds, however clean yours looks. Donation is a genuine dead end for this one item, and it is worth knowing that before you spend a week making calls. The realistic routes are the city's per-item pickup, a transfer-station trip, retailer takeback with a new bed, or a paid full-service haul.
Seattle Public Utilities charges $30 per item through its special-items collection — by appointment, curbside only, on your next regular garbage day, with terms published at seattle.gov/specialitems. A mattress and its box spring are two separate items, so that is $60 and two carries down your stairs. The program does not extend past the Seattle city line.
King County Solid Waste charges $30 each for a mattress or a box spring, limited to six per day, on top of the $40.25 minimum load fee for up to 320 lb, plus a $25 unsecured-load fee if the load is not properly strapped. Stations are Factoria in Bellevue, Houghton in Kirkland, Shoreline, Bow Lake in Tukwila, Renton, Enumclaw and Vashon. Inside Seattle, SPU's North station in Wallingford on N 34th St and South station at 8105 5th Ave S publish roughly a $35 minimum per trip up to 420 lb and about $165 a ton — but that page is dated 4/1/2023 and a 2025 study cited nearer $32.60 minimum and about $234.80 a ton commercial, so confirm before you drive.
Flat by size, quoted from a photo: twin $111, full $126, queen $139, king $154. A box spring alone is $124 and a mattress with its box spring is $192 as a set. Related pieces price the same way — bed frame $92, bunk bed $165, futon $139, crib $90. A $95 minimum applies to a single-item trip. Carrying it down from any floor and the disposal are included, with no stair fee.
Not lawfully, unless it is out for a scheduled SPU special-items appointment you have already booked and paid for. A mattress put out on any other day is illegal dumping, and it is also the thing most likely to be tagged, ticketed or simply left there for weeks. Book the appointment first or have it collected from inside.
No. A queen will not fit inside most cars or SUVs, and strapping one to a roof in Seattle is a bad plan for two reasons: an unsecured load costs $25 extra at a King County station, and a mattress that soaks through in the rain gains a great deal of weight and becomes much harder to recycle. If you are self-hauling, you need a pickup or a box truck and a second person.
Yes, and book early. The University of Washington dorm move-out deadline is noon on Saturday June 13, 2026, with the busiest curbside stretch June 10 to 13, and there is a second and larger surge in late August when off-campus leases turn over. Mattresses pile up faster than anything else in the U-District in both windows, so slots go quickly.
Wrap it in a sealed plastic mattress bag before it leaves the bedroom, and tell your hauler in advance. Nobody will be annoyed — it is a routine job and the disclosure just changes how we bag and stage it so nothing sheds into the hallway or the truck. Moving an unwrapped infested mattress through a shared stairwell is how a single unit becomes a whole building's problem.