The short answer
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Mattress, twin | $82 |
| Mattress, full or double | $94 |
| Mattress, queen | $103 |
| Mattress, king or Cal King | $114 |
| Box spring, any size | $92 |
| Mattress and box spring set | $143 |
Those are flat prices covering the pickup, the carry from wherever the mattress actually is, and the disposal. The minimum for a visit is $75, which a twin at $82 already clears.
What you will not find on this page is a gate rate, a program name or a per-unit recycling fee, because those vary across the metro and they change. If you are planning a self-haul, call the facility you intend to use and confirm the current rate and whether they take mattresses at all before you load anything into a car.
What recycling a mattress actually involves
A mattress is not one material, which is why it is a difficult object for any waste system.
Cut one open and you get steel springs, polyurethane foam, cotton and synthetic fiber batting, a quilted fabric cover, and in a box spring a softwood frame with staples. Each of those has a different destination. The steel is the piece with obvious value. The foam has a market when it is clean and dry. The wood can be chipped. The fiber is the difficult part.
All of that requires a facility that does the separation, and that is the crux: taking a mattress apart is labor, and labor is what you are paying for whether you pay a facility, pay a hauler, or do it yourself on the floor of your basement with a utility knife.
Which is also why a wet mattress is a worse mattress. Foam and fiber that have been rained on in a Chicago alley for a week are not recoverable in the same way. If you want the material to have a chance, keep it inside until pickup day.
The self-haul math, honestly
People ask whether it is cheaper to take it themselves. Sometimes the gate cost is lower than the pickup cost. The question is what else it costs you.
- A vehicle. A queen mattress does not go in a sedan, on a sedan, or in most SUVs with the seats down. That is a van, a truck, or a rented vehicle, plus fuel, plus the deposit.
- A second person. Nobody carries a queen down a back staircase alone, and nobody should try it on wet wooden treads in November.
- A working day. Facilities keep business hours. If yours does too, this is a day off or a Saturday morning that disappears.
- The tie-down. A mattress on a roof at highway speed is a genuine hazard and the reason you see so many of them on the shoulder of the expressways here.
Set against that, $103 for a queen, on a date you picked, carried out by two people who do this for a living, is a reasonable trade for most households. If you already own a pickup and live near a facility, self-haul is a fair choice. Just price it with the vehicle and the day included.
Why the Chicago version is harder
Two things make this city specific.
The staircase. Most of the mattresses in Chicago are above the ground floor, and they come out down a rear wooden porch and a back staircase with a turn at each landing. A queen goes down that on edge with a person at each end. A king does not go down some of them at all without being stood fully vertical through the top turn.
The winter. From November through March those treads are wet, then icy, then covered in snow that somebody shovelled off the porch onto the step below. This is the single most common reason a mattress that was supposed to leave in January is still in the spare room in April.
Neither of those changes the price. There is no stair charge, no walk-up fee and no winter surcharge. A queen is $103 from a third floor in Ukrainian Village in February.
Box springs are their own object
A box spring is $92 on its own and it is often the harder of the two to move. It does not bend. A queen mattress can be flexed through a tight turn and a box spring cannot, which is why the classic Chicago back-stair failure is the box spring wedged at the second-floor landing.
If the mattress and the box spring are both going, send them as a set at $143 rather than separately. That also means a single visit, which matters more than the arithmetic when you are working around a move.
One thing worth checking in older Chicago apartments: some box springs went up a staircase that has since been rebuilt, or through a window during a move-in. If yours came in a way it cannot leave, say so when you book and the crew plans for it.
Timing it
The two heavy weeks are the end of April into May 1 and the end of September into October 1, when the leases flip and the whole city moves at once. If your mattress is part of one of those moves, book it for a day or two before the move rather than the day of. The alley behind your building is going to be full of somebody else's truck otherwise.
Outside those windows, the best time is a dry day. That is not a scheduling requirement, just practical: a dry back staircase is a faster and safer carry than a wet one, and the crew is not tracking slush through your unit.
If you are replacing the mattress, the neat version is to schedule the pickup for the morning the new one is delivered. That way you are never sleeping in a room with two mattresses in it, which in a Chicago bedroom is not physically an option anyway.
Sending more than the mattress
The visit is the expensive part of any small job, so the efficient move is to clear the whole room.
Queen bedroom. Mattress and box spring set at $143 plus a solid queen frame at $126: $143 + $126 = $269.
Kids' room in a Portage Park bungalow. Two twin mattresses: $82 + $82 = $164. Add the bunk bed at $123 and it is one trip.
Guest room in an Andersonville two-flat. Full mattress at $94, box spring at $92, nightstand at $57: $94 + $92 + $57 = $243.
Every one of those is a flat total with disposal included, and none of it changes because the room is on the third floor.
Frequently asked questions
How much does mattress recycling cost in Chicago?
A twin is $82, a full is $94, a queen is $103 and a king is $114. A box spring is $92, and a mattress plus box spring goes as a set at $143. Carry-out and disposal are inside those prices.
Is it cheaper to take the mattress myself?
It can be, if you already own a truck and live near a facility that accepts mattresses. Price it with the vehicle, a second person and half a Saturday included, and confirm the current gate rate with the facility first, because it varies around the metro and it changes.
Does a mattress actually get recycled?
The components can be: steel springs, foam, fiber and the wood in a box spring all have destinations when they are clean and dry. A mattress that has spent a week rained on in an alley is a much worse candidate, which is a good reason to keep it inside until pickup.
Do you charge more for a third-floor walk-up in winter?
No. No stair charge, no walk-up fee, no winter surcharge. A queen off a third-floor back porch in February is the same $103.
Can I leave it in the alley instead?
Only if your own municipality authorises it, on the terms and timing it publishes, and larger buildings on private scavenger contracts are usually outside the municipal program entirely. Check your municipality's current bulky-item page rather than assuming.