How to get rid of a mattress in Detroit

The short answer

You have four real options in Metro Detroit: put it out for the City of Detroit's weekly bulk pickup, use your suburb's own program, drive it to a disposal site yourself, or book a pickup. The pickup route is a flat price: twin $82, full $94, queen $103, king $114, and a mattress plus box spring set $143. Orders under $100 are billed at the $100 minimum, so a lone twin is a $100 visit.

Option 1: Detroit's weekly bulk pickup

Since June 3, 2024, the City of Detroit collects bulk items every week instead of every other week. That made the free route a lot more usable. The rules that matter for a mattress:

• Volume cap: up to 2 cubic yards of bulk per week, which the city describes as about the size of two stoves. A queen set takes up a big share of that on its own.
• Timing: items go out by 7 a.m. on your collection day and anything left must be off the curb by 9 p.m.
• Location: in front of your own house, never in front of a vacant lot.

Check the city's bulk-pickup page to confirm mattresses are accepted in your area and what your collection day is. Detroit splits collection between two contracted haulers, one east of Woodward and one west, so a friend's schedule across town may not match yours.

The catch is getting it to the curb. The crews collect from the curb. They do not come into the house, and they do not come down to the basement where a lot of Detroit spare mattresses end up.

Option 2: your suburb's program

Metro Detroit is dozens of cities and townships, and each one runs its own trash service. A few that are worth knowing:

• Dearborn collects household bulk weekly, set next to your cart, on a separate truck that comes by the end of trash day. Large or heavy items and excessive quantities need a fee-based special pickup. Dearborn also runs a free resident drop-off at the DPW yard on Greenfield on the third Saturday of each month, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Warren takes bulk items set next to the rubbish containers on trash day.
• Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Troy, Birmingham and the other SOCRRA member cities each run their own curbside collection. Look up your own city's page; the rules are not uniform.

If you live in Livonia, Sterling Heights, the Pointes or Downriver, go straight to your city's public works page. Do not assume Detroit's rules apply to you.

Option 3: drive it somewhere yourself

SOCRRA's transfer station at 991 Coolidge in Troy takes hand-unloaded loads at $75 per ton with a $50 minimum (rates effective July 1, 2025). Hours are weekday mornings, 6 to 10 a.m., and Saturday 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Confirm it will take your load before you go.

The practical problems are the same everywhere. A queen does not fit in a sedan. A box spring does not fold. You need a pickup or a van, rope, and a second person. On I-75 or the Lodge at highway speed, a loosely tied mattress becomes a sail. And the $50 minimum plus fuel and an hour of your Saturday morning starts to get close to a $103 pickup that includes the carrying.

Getting it out of a Detroit house

This is the part people underestimate. Detroit's median home was built in 1947, and most city ZIP codes report a median of 1939 or earlier. That means:

• Narrow, turning staircases in bungalows and two-flats, with a landing that a king mattress will not bend around without a fight.
• Basement guest beds that came down in pieces years ago and now have to come up as one floppy slab.
• Upstairs bedrooms under a sloped roof in East English Village or Grandmont Rosedale brick homes, where the doorway is lower than the mattress is long.
• Detached garages off the alley, which is where a lot of old mattresses wait for years.

Bag the mattress in the room before you move it. It protects the walls, the stair treads and your back, and if there is any chance of bed bugs it keeps them from riding along the hallway.

What the flat-price pickup costs

A full bed with a metal frame is $143 + $68 = $211. Two twin mattresses from a kids' room are $82 + $82 = $164.

The price includes carrying it out from any floor, basement included, with no stairs fee. You see the price before you book, and it only changes if you approve it. We recycle whatever we can, and we try to donate usable items when local charities accept them.

Which route to pick

Use the city's weekly bulk pickup if the mattress is already near the door, you can get it out by 7 a.m., and the rest of your week's bulk leaves room under 2 cubic yards. It is free and it now comes every week.

Use your suburb's program if you are outside Detroit and you have checked the rule on its website.

Book a pickup if the mattress is in the basement, up a tight staircase, needs to go today, or is part of a bigger clear-out that would blow past the weekly cap. Book by 4 PM for same-day pickup, pick a 2-hour arrival window, and get a price from a photo before anyone shows up. For the rules side, see mattress disposal laws in Detroit.

Frequently asked questions