How to Get Rid of an Old Mattress in Connecticut

In Connecticut, you can drop off an old mattress or box spring for free at any participating town transfer station, public works yard, or municipal collection event. The disposal cost is already prepaid — every new mattress sold in the state carries a $16 recycling fee that funds the statewide Bye Bye Mattress takeback program. 157 Connecticut municipalities offer direct drop-off access, plus 394+ retailers, hotels, universities, and haulers participate too. The catch: the program only takes mattresses that are dry, intact, and free of bedbugs . If yours is soiled, wet, infested, or torn apart, you'll need a hauler.

I'm Justin Hubbard. I run Grizzly Junk Pros (legally Stamford Junk Pros LLC, dba Grizzly Junk Pros), and we haul mattresses out of Connecticut homes every week — Stamford to Hartford, Greenwich to Glastonbury. This post walks through the free drop-off path, when it works, when it doesn't, and what it costs if you'd rather have us pick the thing up.

How do you dispose of an old mattress in Connecticut?

You have three real options, in order of cheapest to most convenient:

1. Free drop-off at a participating town facility. Most Connecticut transfer stations, public works yards, and bulky-waste days will take a clean, dry mattress at no charge under the state takeback program. You haul it in, they recycle it.
2. Retailer takeaway when you buy a new mattress. If you're replacing a mattress, ask the retailer whether they'll take the old one. Many CT retailers participate in Bye Bye Mattress and will haul the old unit at delivery — sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee.
3. Hire a junk hauler. Same-day or next-day pickup at your home. Costs more than DIY because you're paying for the labor, the truck, and the disposal — but you don't lift anything. Real numbers later in this post.

What you should not do: leave a mattress at a regular curb for trash collection without checking your town's rules. Most CT municipalities will refuse it as bulky waste and tag it. Some will pick it up only on scheduled bulky-waste days. A few have curbside mattress pickup as part of the takeback program — Norwalk and a handful of others do — but it's not universal.

Where can I drop off a mattress for free in Connecticut?

The simplest answer: enter your zip code at byebyemattress.com . The locator tool shows the nearest participating drop-off — usually your own town's transfer station, occasionally a neighboring town's facility, or a private participant nearby.

Most CT residents have a participating site within 10–15 minutes. The biggest service-area gaps are pockets of rural Litchfield County and far eastern New London County, where you may have to drive 20–25 minutes to the nearest transfer station.

Representative drop-off points across our service area include the Scofieldtown Road Transfer Station in Stamford, Holly Hill in Greenwich, the Crescent Street Transfer Station in Norwalk (which also offers curbside participation), Hartford's regional facility, and New Haven's Middletown Avenue site. West Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester, Bristol, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Fairfield, Westport, Milford, Hamden, Stratford, and West Haven all have participating drop-off points listed on the locator.

Most town transfer stations require a resident permit or sticker — bring proof of residency the first time. Some charge a small per-trip facility fee for general waste, but the mattress drop-off itself is free under Connecticut's mattress stewardship law (Public Act 13-42, codified at CGS Chapter 446z).

If you're outside our service area or just want to handle it yourself, the CT DEEP mattress recycling page is the official source.

What kinds of mattresses does the program accept?

Accepted:

• Innerspring mattresses (any size, twin through California king)
• Memory foam mattresses
• Latex mattresses
• Hybrid mattresses
• Box springs and foundations
• Adjustable bed bases (the metal/electric platforms — call ahead since some sites handle these separately)
• Crib mattresses — Connecticut is the only state in the program that counts crib mattresses as recyclable units

Not accepted at the free takeback:

• Soiled mattresses (urine, blood, mold beyond surface stains)
• Wet or frozen mattresses
• Mattresses with bedbug, lice, or other insect infestations
• Mattresses that have been cut apart or significantly damaged structurally
• Sleeping bags, mattress toppers, futons, sofa beds, water beds, air mattresses, dog beds — these aren't covered units even if they look mattress-adjacent

If your mattress is borderline — minor surface staining, a small tear, sat in a dry basement for years — call the drop-off site first. Many will take it; some won't. The program errs on the cautious side because contaminated units can't go through the recycling shredders safely.

What if my mattress is wet, moldy, or has bedbugs?

This is the most common reason CT homeowners call us instead of using the free program. Three scenarios:

Bedbugs. Wrap the mattress in a plastic encasement (a new fitted mattress bag from a hardware store is enough), label it, and call a hauler. We won't bring an open infested mattress into our truck without bagging — for obvious reasons. Bagged units go straight to a transfer station that accepts contaminated bulky waste; they don't go through the recycling stream.

Water damage / mold. A finished basement that flooded, a leaky window that sat over a guest bed, a cabin mattress that mildewed over the winter — none of these go through Bye Bye Mattress. They're construction-and-demolition (C&D) debris at that point.

Pet damage / heavy soiling. Dog incontinence, multi-year cat damage, post-illness cleanup. The takeback program politely declines. Hauler territory.

In all three cases, the cost of a mattress-only pickup with us starts at our minimum load tier ($145) . If you have other items going at the same time — old box spring, bed frame, dresser, a few bags of clothes — it usually fits inside that same minimum without adding cost. See /how-pricing-works for the full 13-tier truck-space pricing table.

When does it make sense to hire a hauler instead of using the drop-off?

The free program is the right answer for most CT homeowners with one clean mattress to lose. You'd hire a hauler when one of these is true:

• You don't have a vehicle that fits a mattress. A king mattress is roughly 76" × 80" — most sedans and small SUVs can't carry one even folded, and folding a memory foam mattress damages the structure. Renting a U-Haul to drive a mattress 8 miles to the transfer station is rarely the cheaper play once you add the rental, mileage, gas, and insurance.
• You're moving a mattress out of an apartment, walk-up, or third-floor bedroom. The transfer station is the easy part. Getting a queen down a narrow stairwell with a tight 90-degree landing is what most people underestimate.
• You have multiple items beyond just the mattress. A bedroom cleanout — mattress, box spring, frame, dresser, side tables, lamps, miscellaneous boxes — easily fits in a 1/4 truckload ($295) and saves you 4–5 trips to the transfer station.
• You're on a deadline. Closing Friday, tenant moving out Sunday, estate cleanout before a buyer walkthrough. Same-day service is almost always available if you book before 11 AM. (Towns farther from our Stamford or West Haven dispatch hubs are usually next-day.)
• The mattress is contaminated. Soiled, wet, or infested — covered above.
• You don't want to lift it. Honest answer for a lot of folks. Mattresses are awkward, bulky, and surprisingly heavy when wet. Paying $145 to skip the whole thing is a perfectly reasonable trade.

How much does mattress removal cost in Connecticut with a hauler?

For Grizzly:

• Mattress only (single): $145 — our Minimum Load tier . Covers a mattress, the box spring if you have one, and a few small items thrown in.
• Mattress + box spring + bed frame: still $145 in most cases. The Minimum Load tier holds more than people expect.
• Full bedroom contents (mattress, box spring, frame, dresser, nightstand, mirror, miscellaneous): typically 1/8 truckload ($195) to 1/4 truckload ($295) depending on volume.
• Multiple bedrooms (turnover cleanout, downsizing, estate work): 3/8 to 1/2 truckload ($395–$455) is common.

Examples are estimates only. Final pricing is based on actual truck space used and is confirmed before removal begins.

For context across other services on the site: a hot tub typically lands at the 1/4 to 1/2 truckload tier ($295–$455) , and a full estate cleanout usually runs $455–$795 depending on house size.

If you're not sure whether you have a "mattress only" or "bedroom contents" job, call (203) 979-0550 and describe what you're looking at. We'll give you a tier estimate before we drive over.

What actually happens to recycled mattresses?

Roughly 75% of a mattress is recyclable by weight. The disassembly stream pulls steel springs (baled and sold as scrap to mills), foam and padding (shredded for carpet underlayment, animal bedding, and insulation), wood from box springs (chipped for mulch or biomass fuel), and cotton fill (repurposed for insulation or industrial textiles). The remaining 25% — fabric scraps, glues, mixed-material components — goes to landfill or waste-to-energy.

The point of the program is to keep that recyclable 75% out of the landfill, where mattresses had historically been a serious volume-and-tangling problem at transfer stations. The recycling fee paid at purchase is what makes the drop-off free for you today.

Can I just put my mattress at the curb on trash day?

Depends on your town. Three patterns across Connecticut:

• Curbside takeback collection — Norwalk and a handful of other municipalities offer scheduled curbside mattress pickup as part of the Bye Bye Mattress program. Check your town's website for the schedule.
• Bulky-waste day pickup — many CT towns will collect mattresses on designated bulky-item days (often quarterly or annually) — but they usually require it to be wrapped in plastic and tagged. Stamford, Greenwich, Hartford, and most large municipalities operate this way.
• No curbside pickup at all — some towns require the homeowner to bring the mattress to the transfer station; the trash hauler won't touch it.

When in doubt, your town's public works or sanitation page is the source of truth. We've seen mattresses sit at the curb for weeks because someone assumed the regular trash truck would grab them. (It won't.)

FAQ

Is mattress drop-off really free in Connecticut? Yes — the disposal cost was prepaid as a $16 recycling fee on the original mattress purchase. Drop-off at any participating site is no-cost for the mattress itself. Some town transfer stations charge a separate facility-entry fee for general use, but the mattress recycling itself is free.

What's the closest free drop-off to my town? Use the locator at byebyemattress.com — enter your zip and it returns the nearest sites. 157 CT towns participate directly; nearly every populated area has a site within a 15-minute drive.

Can I leave a mattress at the curb in Stamford or Greenwich? Stamford requires it to be wrapped in plastic and tagged for bulky pickup; Greenwich asks residents to bring mattresses to the Holly Hill facility directly. Rules vary town to town — always check your municipal website before putting a mattress at the curb.

Will the takeback program take a mattress with bedbugs? No. Bedbug-infested mattresses are excluded from Bye Bye Mattress entirely. Bag the unit in a sealed mattress encasement and call a hauler — it has to go to a contaminated-waste stream, not the recycling stream.

How much does it cost to have a hauler pick up a mattress in CT? Grizzly Junk Pros charges $145 for the Minimum Load tier, which covers a mattress and box spring with room for a few extra items. Bigger jobs (full bedroom, multiple rooms) scale up the truck-space tiers from there.

Do you take the mattress to the recycling program if I hire you? When the mattress is clean and intact, yes — we route it through a participating drop-off so it goes through the recycling stream. Contaminated units (soiled, wet, infested) go to a transfer station that handles bulky waste, because the recycling program won't accept them.

What about box springs, futons, and sleeper sofas? Box springs and foundations are covered by the takeback program. Futons and sleeper sofas are not — those count as furniture, not mattresses, and don't go through Bye Bye Mattress. We haul them as part of standard junk removal pricing. For the broader rule on what dumpsters can and can't take in CT, see what can't go in a dumpster in Connecticut.

Is Grizzly Junk Pros the same company as Stamford Junk Pros LLC? Yes. Grizzly Junk Pros is the public-facing brand; Stamford Junk Pros LLC is the legal entity (dba Grizzly Junk Pros). Same crew, same trucks, same phone number — (203) 979-0550.

How fast can you pick up a mattress in Connecticut? Same-day service is almost always available if you book before 11 AM, for any town within reasonable dispatch range of our Stamford or West Haven hubs. Towns farther out — rural Litchfield, eastern New London, northern Hartford County — are usually next-day. Hours are 8 AM to 10 PM, 7 days a week.

Last reviewed: May 2026
Author: Justin Hubbard, owner, Grizzly Junk Pros (dba of Stamford Junk Pros LLC)
Phone: (203) 979-0550
Service area: Fairfield, New Haven, Hartford counties (CT) + parts of Middlesex and Litchfield

Get a quote at grizzlyjunkpros.com or call (203) 979-0550.