Mattress removal in Indianapolis costs $26 through Indy Pickup 1111 — an $11 base fee plus a $15 mattress surcharge — and a mattress plus box spring set is $36. National haulers start at $65 and climb well past $100. The city takes mattresses free on heavy trash day, but only once a month with a two-item cap.
Last updated: July 2026
A mattress is one of the most annoying things to get rid of in Indianapolis. It will not fit in your trash cart. Goodwill will not take it. And if you lean it against a dumpster and walk away, the city can fine you up to $2,500 for illegal dumping (indy.gov, 2026). So it sits in the garage, collecting dust, while you figure out who actually hauls these things.
We haul them. Indy Pickup 1111 picks up mattresses across the Indianapolis metro for $26 — and this guide covers every other option too, including the genuinely free one, because the right answer depends on your situation and your timeline.
How Much Does Mattress Removal Cost in Indianapolis?
Mattress removal in Indianapolis runs anywhere from free to several hundred dollars depending on who you call. Most full-service junk removal companies will not print a price online — they quote by how much truck space your stuff fills. Here is what every real option costs in 2026:
| Option | What You Pay | The Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Indy Pickup 1111 | $26 single mattress $36 mattress + box spring set | Item must be outside or in the garage |
| City heavy trash pickup | $0 | Once a month; two-item cap; mattress and box spring count as two items |
| LoadUp (national) | From $65 | Gig-style contractor network, not a local crew |
| Full-service haulers (Fire Dawgs, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Junk King) | Quote-based; Fire Dawgs’ own load calculator starts at $100 | In-person estimate; priced by truck volume |
| DIY drop-off (Citizens’ Transfer Station) | $2 per carload, $5 per truckload, cash only | Saturdays 8am–4pm only; you need the truck and the back for it |
Notice what is missing from most of those rows: a published number. We checked the mattress pages for the big Indianapolis haulers, and not one of them prints a flat mattress price — you have to book an estimate first. That is the main reason we publish our full surcharge price list. You should know the total before anyone shows up.
The $26 breaks down simply: $11 base fee (every Indy Pickup 1111 stop starts at $11 — it is on the invoice as an Eco & Fuel Recovery Fee) plus a $15 mattress surcharge. A mattress and box spring together is $11 plus a $25 set surcharge, so $36 total. No fuel markup inside the core service area, no “final price on arrival.”
Mattress gone for $26. Call or text (317) 350-1111, or book online in about two minutes. Same-day and next-day pickup across the Indianapolis metro, backed by 2,300+ Google reviews at 4.9 stars. Book your pickup →
Can You Put a Mattress on the Curb in Indianapolis?
Yes — but only on your monthly heavy trash day, and only by the rules. Marion County gives every household one heavy trash pickup per month, capped at two bulky items, and mattresses are explicitly on the accepted list. The city asks that box springs and mattresses be placed “flat on the ground, not leaning on other objects” (indy.gov Trash 101, 2026).
Any other day of the month, a mattress at the curb is not trash pickup — it is illegal dumping. Section 601-2 of the municipal code covers unwanted items left on public or private property, and fines run up to $2,500 per instance (indy.gov, 2026). Neighbors report it through RequestIndy, and enforcement does happen.
Two more wrinkles worth knowing before you count on the free route:
- A mattress and box spring set counts as two items. That is your entire month’s heavy trash allowance in one shot. If you also had a couch or a water heater to get rid of this month, something waits until next month.
- You have to catch the right day. Heavy trash day varies by address — look yours up at indy.gov/activity/trash-pickup. Miss it and the mattress sits for another month, or leans against your garage wall until you forget why you kept it.
If the timing works and two items is enough, honestly, use the city pickup. It is free and it is legit. The $26 option exists for everyone who does not want to wait up to four weeks — or who already spent this month’s two items.
Every Way to Get Rid of a Mattress in Indianapolis
Option 1: City Heavy Trash Pickup ($0)
Covered above — free, monthly, two-item cap, flat on the ground. Best when you can wait and you are not clearing more than two bulky things this month. Full details on how the city program handles appliances and furniture are in our Indianapolis junk removal cost guide.
Option 2: Donation (Usually a Dead End)
Donation sounds like the responsible move. In practice, almost nobody in Indianapolis will take a used mattress. Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana explicitly lists mattresses, bed springs, and sofa beds as items it will not accept (goodwillindy.org, 2026). The Greater Indy Habitat ReStore takes bed frames and bedroom furniture, but mattresses are nowhere on its accepted-items list — call the donation coordinator before you load anything. Hygiene regulations around bed bugs make refusal the default at most donation centers nationwide.
If your mattress is genuinely clean and nearly new, a phone call is worth five minutes. For the other 95% of mattresses, skip the donation run — you will end up hauling it back home.
Option 3: Indy Pickup 1111 ($26-$36)
Our lane. Set the mattress outside or in the garage, and it is $26 for a single mattress of any size — twin, queen, king, it does not matter — or $36 with the box spring. Same-day and next-day service is typically available in the core area, which runs Greenwood to Carmel and Avon to New Palestine (full service area). You do not need to be home. Most customers text a photo, prepay the $11 base, and come home to an empty driveway.
One honest limitation: we take mattresses that are outside or in the garage only. We do not offer inside removal for mattresses the way we do for appliances. If the mattress is up a flight of stairs and you physically cannot get it out, option 4 is your answer.
Option 4: Full-Service Junk Removal ($100+)
Fire Dawgs, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Junk King, and the other truck-based crews will come inside, carry the mattress down the stairs, and sweep up behind themselves. You pay for that labor: pricing is by truck volume, quotes happen in person, and Fire Dawgs’ own calculator starts at $100. For a single mattress, that is steep. For a mattress plus a basement full of stuff, it can make sense — we compared the models in the $11 pickup vs. full-service junk removal and ranked the local crews in our best junk removal services guide.
Option 5: Haul It Yourself ($2-$5)
The Citizens’ Transfer Station at 2324 S. Belmont Ave takes household junk for $2 per carload or $5 per SUV or pickup truckload, cash only, Saturdays from 8am to 4pm (indy.gov Trash 101, 2026). Cheap, but you need a truck, a second pair of hands, and straps — an unsecured mattress on I-465 is a ticket waiting to happen. By the time you borrow a truck and burn a Saturday morning, $26 starts looking like the deal it is.
How the $26 Mattress Pickup Works
The whole process is designed so you never wait around for a crew:
- Book and prepay the $11 base fee. Call or text (317) 350-1111, or use the online form at indypickup1111.com — you can attach up to four photos. During business hours someone typically responds within the hour.
- Confirm the surcharge. The mattress surcharge ($15 single, $25 for a set) is confirmed before pickup, so the total is locked in ahead of time.
- Set it outside or in the garage. Not on the road or curb. You do not need to be home — pickup is contactless.
- We haul it off. Same-day or next-day in the core area. The truck comes, the mattress leaves, done.
Plans change? Cancel with more than two hours’ notice and the $11 is fully refunded. The full process, including what happens for specialty items, is on our how it works page.
Two minutes to book, one less thing in the garage. Text (317) 350-1111 with a photo of your mattress and we’ll confirm your total — $26 single, $36 with the box spring. Get it picked up →
What Happens to Your Old Mattress?
Americans throw away more than 50,000 mattresses every day (Mattress Recycling Council, 2026) — somewhere between 15 and 20 million a year (ISPA, 2015). Each one takes up roughly 40 cubic feet in a landfill (New York Product Stewardship Council), and they are famously miserable to bury: springs snag machinery and the bulk resists compacting. The broader furniture category has one of the worst diversion records the EPA tracks — 80.1% of the 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings discarded in 2018 went straight to landfill (EPA, 2018 data).
The frustrating part is that up to 75% of a mattress is recyclable (Mattress Recycling Council, 2026). Broken down, the steel springs are sold as scrap steel, foam gets shredded into carpet padding, wood becomes mulch or fuel pellets, and the fibers are blended into insulation products. According to Alison Keane, president of the International Sleep Products Association and the Mattress Recycling Council, “The bedding industry is committed to seeing that mattress recycling continues to flourish” (Mattress Recycling Council, 2025).
Here is the catch for Hoosiers: Indiana has no statewide mattress recycling program. The industry-funded Bye Bye Mattress network operates in California, Connecticut, Oregon, and Rhode Island — not here. In Marion County, whether a mattress gets any second life depends entirely on who hauls it. At Indy Pickup 1111, collected items are recycled or donated when possible, and metal — including the steel in a box spring — is processed through our salvage yard operation, the same one that recycles tons of metal every year from the appliances and scrap items we pick up for $11.
We will not pretend a used mattress is treasure. It is not. But steel coils belong in a scrap stream, not under 40 cubic feet of dirt.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does mattress removal cost in Indianapolis?
With Indy Pickup 1111, mattress removal costs $26 for a single mattress of any size, or $36 for a mattress and box spring set, as long as items are outside or in the garage. National services start around $65, and full-service haulers quote by truck volume, typically starting near $100. City heavy trash pickup is free but limited to two items once a month.
Can I leave a mattress on the curb in Indianapolis?
Only on your address’s monthly heavy trash day, placed flat on the ground and within the two-item limit, per indy.gov. On any other day, a curbside mattress counts as illegal dumping under Section 601-2 of the municipal code, and fines can reach $2,500 per instance. Look up your heavy trash day at indy.gov before setting anything out.
Who picks up old mattresses in Indianapolis?
Indy Pickup 1111 picks up mattresses across the Indianapolis metro for $26-$36, typically same-day or next-day. Marion County heavy trash collects mattresses free once a month with a two-item cap. National services like LoadUp start around $65, and full-service crews like Fire Dawgs or 1-800-GOT-JUNK handle inside removal at truck-volume prices.
Is mattress removal really just $26?
Yes. The total is the $11 base fee, prepaid when you book, plus a $15 mattress surcharge confirmed before pickup — $26 all-in for a single mattress, $36 with the box spring. The one requirement: the mattress must be outside or in the garage. There are no fuel markups inside the core service area and no price changes on arrival.
Do you take box springs and bed frames too?
Yes. A mattress plus box spring set is $36 total. A metal bed frame is even simpler — because it is mostly metal, it rides along under the $11 base fee with no surcharge at all. If you are clearing a whole bedroom set, text (317) 350-1111 with photos and you will get one confirmed price for the stop.
Do I need to be home for mattress pickup?
No. Pickup is contactless — set the mattress outside or in the garage, and the crew handles the rest during the scheduled window. Reviewers mention this constantly: book by text, leave for work, come home to an empty driveway. You will get a confirmation text, and drivers typically call or text when they are on the way.
Can I donate a used mattress in Indianapolis?
Usually not. Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana explicitly refuses mattresses and bed springs, and the Habitat ReStore does not list them as accepted items. Health regulations around bed bugs make refusal standard at most donation centers. If your mattress is nearly new and spotless, call the ReStore’s donation coordinator first — otherwise plan on recycling or removal.
Ready to reclaim the garage? Book mattress removal for $26 — call or text (317) 350-1111, or request pickup online. Same-day and next-day service from Greenwood to Carmel, Avon to New Palestine. Book your $26 pickup →