How to Get Rid of an Old Mattress in Australia
By Dylan Anderson ·
Around 1.8 million mattresses go to landfill in Australia each year. That's the figure the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council gives, and Planet Ark puts it in perspective: laid end to end, they'd stretch from Hobart to Darwin.
Part of the reason is that getting rid of one is genuinely awkward. It won't fit in a bin, it's too heavy and bulky to move alone, and the options aren't obvious. Here are the five that actually exist, and how to work out which applies where you live.
Why a mattress is harder to get rid of than it looks
Mattresses are one of the most common items sent to landfill, according to Planet Ark, which is mostly a function of their size and the fact that they can't go through kerbside collection.
They're also one of the items most likely to end up dumped. In its February 2026 illegal dumping research, the NSW EPA reported that bulky household items remain the most dumped material in the state, with kerbsides, roadsides and bushland the worst hotspots. A mattress left on a nature strip outside a scheduled collection is a textbook example.
Option 1: Recycle it
Most of a mattress can actually be recovered. Recyclers strip them by hand and separate the components, and each stream has somewhere to go.
- Timber is processed into woodchips and used in particleboard, animal bedding or mulch.
- Steel springs go to scrap metal merchants, where they're melted down for use in buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and appliances.
- Foam and wadding can be recycled into carpet underlay.
The Australian Bedding Stewardship Council maintains a list of approved mattress recyclers. As at September 2026 it lists recyclers in every state plus the ACT, though none in the Northern Territory. It's the most reliable starting point, because it tells you who is actually accredited rather than who ranks well. The ABSC has also approved Soft Landing Mattress Recycling as a trusted recycler.
ABSC list of approved mattress and bedding recyclers
Planet Ark on recycling mattresses
Two practical notes. Recyclers generally offer both collection and drop-off, and Planet Ark is clear that a fee usually applies to cover the cost of recycling or cleaning, with the amount varying by recycler, by location, and by whether it's a pickup or a drop-off. The ABSC also suggests that people in regional areas contact their local council about options, because recycler coverage is thinner outside the cities.
Option 2: Your council collection
Most councils run some form of bulky waste collection that takes mattresses, and for a lot of households this is the simplest route. The catch is that it's entirely council-specific: booking requirements, how many collections you get a year, what's accepted and how items must be presented all differ.
Worth knowing that the service goes by different names depending on where you are. In New South Wales people generally search for a council clean-up, in Victoria it's usually called hard rubbish, and elsewhere you'll see bulky waste collection or kerbside collection. Same idea, different words, and using your council's own term will find the right page faster.
The one universal rule: put it out only in the window your council specifies. Outside that window it stops being a collection and starts being dumping.
Option 3: Donate it, if it's genuinely in good condition
Planet Ark notes that mattresses in good condition can be cleaned and donated to charities, which use them to provide low-cost bedding. That's a real option, but the emphasis belongs on good condition.
Ring the charity first and ask. Do not leave a mattress outside a charity bin or a closed shop. Queensland explicitly classes leaving items outside a charity bin or shop as illegal dumping, and notes it costs charities thousands to clean up.
Option 4: Retailer take-back when a new one is delivered
If you're replacing the mattress rather than just removing one, ask about removal at the point of sale rather than assuming it's included. Some retailers will take the old one away on delivery and some won't, and it's much easier to arrange when you buy than on the day the truck arrives.
Option 5: A skip bin, as part of a bigger clear-out
A skip makes sense when the mattress is one item among many, such as a house move, a deceased estate or a full clean-out, rather than the only thing you need gone. It's rarely the efficient choice for a single mattress.
Whether a mattress can go in a bin, and how it's handled if it can, varies by supplier, bin type and location. So tell us it's a mattress when you book rather than putting it in and hoping. It also takes up real volume, which matters when you're picking a size.
How to work out what size bin you need
What not to do
Leaving a mattress on the kerb outside a scheduled collection is illegal dumping, and the penalties are not trivial. Queensland treats unlawfully depositing 200 litres or more of waste as illegal dumping, with an infringement of $2,763 for an individual under its penalty table for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. In NSW the EPA lists on-the-spot fines starting at $1,000 for an individual for small-scale dumping, with higher amounts in sensitive places.
What counts as illegal dumping and what it costs
Also worth remembering that a mattress dumped on a footpath or nature strip is usually traceable. Councils investigate, and reports from residents are what direct where enforcement goes.
The short version
Check the ABSC directory for an accredited recycler near you first, because most of a mattress can be recovered and the components genuinely get reused. If there's no recycler within reach, your council's bulky waste collection is the next stop, under whatever name it goes by in your state. Donate only if it's in good condition and only after ringing ahead. Use a skip when the mattress is part of a larger clear-out rather than the whole job.
If you're clearing a property and there are mattresses in the mix, tell us how many and what else is going in, and we'll sort out the right approach for your location before anything is delivered.