By The Junk Lord · Updated
The options, start to finish
When the new bed shows up, the old one has to go somewhere. If you’re sorting out how to get rid of a mattress in York County, you’ve got four honest choices. Which one fits depends on what your town’s trash service allows, whether you own a truck, and how clean the mattress is.
- Pass it on. A clean, intact mattress with no stains or pests might suit a relative, a neighbor or a first apartment. A sagging or stained one won’t.
- Schedule it with your trash hauler. YCSWA itself doesn’t collect trash, and it tells residents to contact their own hauler about large-item pickup.[1][2]
- Haul it to the county yourself. York County residents can drop mattresses at the Small Load Drop-Off at the Resource Recovery Center.[3]
- Have someone carry it out for you. More on that at the bottom.
Taking it to the Resource Recovery Center
YCSWA lists mattresses right alongside furniture as small loads of waste. Those go into the plant on Blackbridge Road and get processed into electricity. If the metal bed frame is going too, it counts as a metal item, and YCSWA sends those to a local scrap yard instead.[4][3]
Residents check in at the scale house first and then get directed to the drop-off area. Posted hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Waste loads are charged by the ton with a minimum fee, so check YCSWA’s current rates before you go.[3][1]
A queen mattress on the roof of a sedan is a bad idea on Route 30. Use a pickup or a trailer, tie it down at more than one point, and keep the load low.
How local large-item pickups handle a mattress
Curbside pickup is often the easiest route, but every town counts mattresses a little differently. A few examples:
- York Township allows one large item per week, and it has to be liftable by two people. A twin or full mattress with its box spring counts as one item; a queen or king set counts as two. That means a king set takes two weeks to go out curbside.[5]
- Springettsbury Township takes mattresses and box springs as a large item, one per trash day. Call the township’s contracted hauler at least a day before your normal collection day.[6]
- The City of York lets curbside customers schedule up to five bulky items a week, booked 7 to 10 days ahead. Unscheduled large items get left behind.[7]
- Hanover Borough treats mattresses and box springs as special pickups that must be scheduled with Public Works and paid for in advance, with the charge based on volume and time.[8]
- East Manchester Township accepts mattresses and box springs as a weekly bulk item if they’re wrapped, scheduled by Monday of the pickup week.[9]
- Across the river in the City of Lancaster, a mattress and box spring set counts as one oversized item for the week, and that week your regular trash is capped at four containers.[10]
If the mattress has bedbugs
Bedbugs change the plan. Skip the giveaway idea entirely, and don’t drag an open mattress through the house.
The City of York requires large items with any sign of bedbugs to be bagged and sealed before pickup. Ephrata Borough has a similar rule for mattresses and box springs with bedbugs or heavy staining: they have to be wrapped. Even where it isn’t written down, sealing it up is the considerate thing to do for the crew lifting it.[7][11]
Bag the mattress and box spring in the bedroom, tape the seams, and carry them straight out. Then vacuum the room and the path you took.
When hiring it out makes more sense
A curbside pickup still leaves you dragging a king mattress down a narrow staircase and out to the street. If that’s the part you’d rather skip, our mattress removal covers it. We come into the bedroom, take the mattress, box spring, frame and headboard if you want, and carry it all out. Our pricing is based on how much room it takes up in the truck, and William confirms the number before we start.
Text a photo and the bed size to (717) 654-6138 for a free quote.