How to get rid of a mattress in Riverside and the Inland Empire

The short answer

In the City of Riverside you have five options: one of your two yearly bulky-item appointments (the mattress must be fully wrapped or bagged), a self-haul to a Riverside County landfill where separated mattresses go in free, a Bye Bye Mattress drop-off site, a sale or giveaway if it is genuinely clean, or a flat-price pickup. With JunkRabbit a queen is $103, a king $114 and a full set with box spring $143, carried out from whatever room it is in.

Option 1: the City's bulky-item appointment

The City of Riverside gives each address two bulky-item appointments a year, with up to five items per appointment. You book by phone with the City, and the items have to be at the curb by 5:30 am on the day, but not out more than 24 hours before.

Mattresses are accepted, with one firm condition: the mattress must be completely wrapped or bagged. An unwrapped mattress is one of the things the program lists as excluded, so a bare queen leaning against your mailbox can simply be left behind.

This is the right route when you have not used your appointments yet, you can get the mattress to the curb yourself, and you can wait for a slot. It is the wrong route when it is October, you used both appointments on a garage cleanout in spring, or the mattress is upstairs and nobody in the house can carry it down.

Option 2: the county landfill, where mattresses go in free

This is the Inland Empire's quiet advantage. Riverside County's landfills accept mattresses and box springs free when they are hauled separately from other trash.

• Badlands Landfill on Ironwood Avenue in Moreno Valley: up to 5 mattresses a day free, open Monday to Saturday 6:00 to 4:30.
• Lamb Canyon Landfill on Lamb Canyon Road in Beaumont: up to 5 a day free, same hours.
• El Sobrante Landfill on Dawson Canyon Road in Corona, run by Waste Management: 2 a day free, public hours Monday to Saturday 6:00 to 6:00.

The catch is the word separately. Mix the mattress into a load of other junk and it is charged like the rest. Two more county rules matter: an uncovered load carries a $25 surcharge, so tarp it, and there is no Sunday option. From La Sierra or Arlanza, El Sobrante is the short run; from Orangecrest or Canyon Crest, Badlands is closer.

Option 3: Bye Bye Mattress drop-off

California runs a statewide mattress recycling program. When you buy a mattress here, a recycling fee is collected at the register, and that fee funds participating drop-off sites where households can leave mattresses at no cost.

Check the program's site for a participating location near you before you load anything, because participation changes and not every site takes every size. This route suits someone with a pickup truck and a free Saturday morning. It does not suit a Canyon Crest renter with a hatchback, because a queen will not fit in a sedan and a box spring does not bend.

Option 4: sell it or give it away

Only if it is genuinely clean, recent and free of stains. Used mattresses are a hard sell, and most people in the IE who list one on a marketplace end up with a no-show and a mattress still standing in the hallway a week later. If a family member or a friend in Fontana or Jurupa Valley actually wants it, great. Otherwise move on to a route with a fixed date.

Option 5: a flat-price pickup

Worked examples. A queen and its box spring as one set is $143; priced separately it would be $103 + $92 = $195. A whole bed, set plus a metal frame, is $143 + $68 = $211. Two twin mattresses from a kids' room are $82 + $82 = $164.

The order minimum is $100, so a lone twin at $82 or a full at $94 is billed at $100. Add a nightstand or a lamp and you are already past the minimum.

You see the price before you book, either by uploading a photo or picking items at the instant quote page. The crew carries it out from any floor, with no stairs fee, and disposal is included.

Which route fits which part of Riverside

• Wood Streets and Magnolia Center: older Craftsman homes, owners, curb space. The City appointment works well if you plan ahead and wrap the mattress.
• UCR and Canyon Crest: mostly renters (only about 37% of 92507 is owner-occupied), no truck, a move-out date that does not wait. A pickup is usually the only realistic option in June.
• Orangecrest and Mission Grove: HOA tracts, where a wrapped mattress sitting by the curb still tends to draw a letter. Use the appointment window precisely or have it taken from the garage.
• La Sierra and Arlanza: closest to El Sobrante, so a self-haul with a borrowed truck is genuinely cheap.
• Downtown apartments: check what your building allows before anything goes near a dumpster enclosure.

Before you move it anywhere

Three habits that save trouble regardless of route. Bag the mattress in the bedroom, not in the driveway, so dust and anything living in it stays contained on the way out. Do not set it out in the afternoon heat of July or August for a morning collection if you can avoid it, because a bagged mattress in a hot driveway is unpleasant for whoever lifts it. And if bed bugs are a possibility, say so to whoever collects it. It changes the handling, not the price.

Frequently asked questions