The short answer
There is no free mattress recycling in Austin, because Texas does not fund one. States that run take-back programs pay for them with a fee collected when you buy a new mattress. Texas collects no such fee, so there is no pot of money behind a free drop-off.
That leaves three real routes: the retailer takes the old one when the new one is delivered, your city's bulky-item collection takes it if your address is on that service, or you pay someone to come and get it. Our price for the third route is $82 for a twin, $94 for a full, $103 for a queen, $114 for a king or Cal king, and $92 for a box spring.
The mattress gets broken down and the components sorted wherever the receiving facility does that work. Disposal is inside the price either way - there is no separate recycling line added at the door.
Why a mattress is expensive to process at all
A mattress is a bad object for a waste system. It is mostly air by volume, it does not compact, it wraps itself around machinery, and it has to be pulled apart by hand into steel, foam, fiber and timber before any of it is worth anything. One queen takes up roughly the space of a small sofa in the back of a truck while weighing a fraction of what that volume would normally bill.
That is the whole reason the number is what it is. You are not paying for a landfill ticket. You are paying for a two-person crew, a truck that can only hold so many of them, Austin drive time on I-35 or MoPac between a pickup in Pflugerville and a facility run, and a receiving fee at the other end.
Anyone quoting a mattress at a headline price far below that is either adding the rest at your door or not sending two people.
The routes, honestly compared
- Retailer haul-away on delivery. Usually the cheapest option and often included. The catch is timing: it only works on the day the new mattress arrives, and you have to arrange it when you order, not when the truck is in the driveway. Austin's big delivery windows fill up fast in August for exactly this reason.
- Municipal bulky collection. Works if you are at a single-family address on residential service in a city that runs a program. It will not work for an apartment, a condo on private service, or an unincorporated address out past Bee Cave or toward Manor. Set-out windows are narrow. Check your own city's current bulky-item page.
- Self-haul. Needs a pickup truck, a second person and a free half day. Check the current gate rate at whichever facility takes residential loads for your address. This is a real option in the hill country where people already own trucks, and a poor one for a third-floor unit near campus.
- Paid removal. A fixed number, a scheduled window, carried out of the bedroom rather than dragged to the curb by you. $103 for a queen.
Our prices, in full
| Mattress - Twin | $82 |
| Mattress - Full / Double | $94 |
| Mattress - Queen | $103 |
| Mattress - King / Cal King | $114 |
| Box Spring (any size) | $92 |
| Mattress + Box Spring Set | $143 |
| Adjustable Bed Base (Motorized) | $118 |
| Waterbed | $167 |
| Futon | $111 |
| Daybed | $89 |
Minimum visit $75. No stair charge, no elevator charge, no fuel surcharge, no charge for the fact that your building on Rio Grande has no loading zone.
What Austin heat does to the maths
People in this city routinely store a mattress in the garage for a few months, planning to deal with it later. It does not survive that.
An uninsulated Austin garage in July and August is an oven. Foam yellows and loses its structure, glue lines in a hybrid separate, and the fabric cover picks up the smell of everything else stored out there. A mattress that was donatable in May is not donatable in September. If you are between the old bed and the new one, the window where the old one still has a second life is short, and it closes in early summer.
The same applies to the flat-pack bed frames that show up in every Riverside and north campus apartment. Particleboard delaminates in that heat and humidity swing, and a frame that comes apart in the hallway is no longer a frame anyone wants.
Worked examples
New bed arriving in a Mueller townhouse. Old queen and its box spring, priced as a set at $143. Add the queen bed frame at $126 and the total is $143 + $126 = $269.
A Round Rock guest room cleared before family visits. A full mattress at $94, a box spring at $92 and a standard metal frame at $68. That comes to $94 + $92 + $68 = $254.
A Riverside four-bedroom at the end of a lease. Four twin mattresses: $82 + $82 + $82 + $82 = $328. At that point it is usually worth comparing against the truck ladder, where a quarter truck is $241 and would not hold four mattresses, and a half truck is $431 and would hold them plus the frames and the rest of the room.
Booking it without a phone call
Type the mattress sizes into the quote box and the price appears. That number is the number. It does not become a range, it does not become a minimum plus, and nobody arrives to re-estimate it in your driveway.
If the mattress is one item on a longer list - a tech relocation where half the furniture from a smaller city apartment does not fit the new house in Leander, say - add everything and let the tool decide whether itemizing or the truck ladder is cheaper for you. It will show you both.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free mattress recycling in Austin?
No. Texas has no statewide mattress recycling program and no fee collected at purchase to fund one, so there is no free public drop-off attached to it. Your realistic free-or-cheap options are retailer haul-away when a new mattress is delivered, or your city's bulky-item collection if your address is on residential service.
How much does it cost to have a mattress picked up in Austin?
A twin is $82, a full is $94, a queen is $103, and a king or Cal king is $114. A box spring on its own is $92, and a mattress with its box spring goes as a set at $143. The minimum for any visit is $75, and disposal and carry-out are included in those prices.
Why can a mattress cost more to remove than a chair?
Volume and handling. A mattress is bulky, will not compact, has to be dismantled by hand at the facility into steel, foam and timber, and takes up as much truck space as a small sofa. The price reflects two people, the truck space it occupies and the receiving fee, not a landfill weight ticket.
Can I recycle a mattress that has been in my garage all summer?
It can still be collected and processed, but do not count on donating it. An uninsulated Austin garage in July and August degrades foam, separates glue lines in hybrids and leaves the cover smelling of the garage. If a mattress has a second life in it, move it on before the heat arrives rather than after.
Do you take box springs and bed bases as well?
Yes. A box spring of any size is $92, a motorized adjustable base is $118, a futon is $111, a daybed is $89 and a waterbed is $167. They can all go on the same visit as the mattress, and each is priced separately so you only pay for what actually leaves the house.