Mattress Recycling California 2026: $18 Fee + Free Drop-Off

Disclosure: MattressNut.com is reader-supported. Some links on this page are affiliate links. State program data sourced from the Mattress Recycling Council (mattressrecyclingcouncil.org), CalRecycle, and byebyemattress.com, accessed May 2026.

Mattress Recycling in California: The 2026 Bye Bye Mattress Program Explained

Direct answer: California operates the largest mattress recycling program in the country through the Mattress Recycling Council's Bye Bye Mattress initiative, funded by an $18 recycling fee added to every new mattress and box spring sold in the state as of April 2026 (up from the previous $11 fee). California residents can drop off used mattresses for free at any of 220-plus permanent collection sites or schedule free curbside pickup through their city sanitation department. The program, mandated by California's Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act (AB 2398, signed 2013, operational since 2016), has diverted over 10 million mattresses from California landfills since launch.

How the California Recycling Program Works

California's program is structured as an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system. Manufacturers and retailers collect a state-mandated fee on every new mattress and box spring sold to a California resident, remit the fee to the Mattress Recycling Council, and MRC uses that pooled fund to pay for the entire downstream collection, transport, and recycling infrastructure. The program was created by AB 2398, signed in 2013 and operational from January 2016. As of 2025, more than 80 percent of materials processed under the program have been recovered for reuse, per MRC's annual report to CalRecycle.

The consumer-facing side is intentionally frictionless: residents pay the recycling fee once, at the point of buying a new mattress, and then never pay again to dispose of an old one in California. MRC operates 220-plus permanent drop-off sites at solid-waste facilities, transfer stations, and partner retailers across the state. Many municipal sanitation programs also accept mattresses curbside under their bulky-item pickup service, with MRC reimbursing the city for collection and transport.

Oversight runs through CalRecycle, the state agency formerly known as the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. CalRecycle's January 2026 review of the program reported a recovery rate exceeding 80% by weight and recommended the fee adjustment that moved the per-unit recycling charge from $11 to $18 effective April 1, 2026, primarily to fund expanded collection in rural counties and to absorb rising commodity-market volatility on recovered steel.

The $18 California Mattress Recycling Fee Explained

Every new mattress, box spring, or foundation sold to a California address triggers an $18 fee, itemized as "California Mattress Recycling Fee" on the receipt. The fee is not a tax — California sales tax is calculated separately on the pre-fee mattress price. The fee applies regardless of where the mattress was manufactured, whether the buyer is a resident or a business, and whether the purchase happens online or in a brick-and-mortar store.

The April 2026 increase from $11 to $18 was approved by MRC's California program advisory committee after a year-long public comment period and CalRecycle's regulatory review. The previous $11 fee had been in place since 2016. The fee schedule will be revisited every three years going forward.

Item	Fee applies?	Amount
New mattress (any size)	Yes	$18 flat
Box spring or foundation	Yes	$18 flat
Mattress topper or pad	No	—
Sleeping bag, futon, air mattress	No	—
Used mattress resale	No	—
Mattress shipped to California from out-of-state online seller	Yes (if seller is registered)	$18 flat

One California-specific nuance: hotels, hospitals, dormitories, and other commercial bulk buyers pay the same $18 per unit. There is no commercial exemption. Hotels with hundreds of rooms therefore pre-pay tens of thousands of dollars per refurbishment cycle, which is the most concentrated revenue input into the MRC California fund.

Where to Drop Off a Mattress for Free in California

The fastest tool is MRC's drop-off locator at byebyemattress.com/locations. Type a California ZIP code and the locator returns the nearest collection sites, hours, and contact phone numbers. The locator covers all 220-plus permanent California sites, plus periodic mobile-collection events.

Major-metro drop-off hubs

• Los Angeles County — 30+ sites including Sun Valley Solid Resources Center, Central Los Angeles SRC, Bradley Landfill, and SAFE Collection Centers. LA Sanitation also accepts mattresses through the Citywide Mattress Recycling Program with appointment-based pickup.
• San Diego County — Miramar Landfill mattress drop-off, EDCO Mattress Recovery, and multiple Goodwill industrial partners.
• San Francisco Bay Area — SF Recology, Davis Street Transfer Station (Oakland), Newby Island Resource Recovery Park (San Jose).
• Sacramento Region — Sacramento County Kiefer Landfill, North Area Recovery Station, and Elder Creek Transfer.
• Central Valley — Fresno County Landfill mattress program, Bakersfield Mt. Vernon Recycling, Modesto Junction Avenue Material Recovery.
• Inland Empire — Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ontario operate joint mattress drop-off through Burrtec and CR&R.

Operating hours vary; most sites accept mattresses during normal solid-waste-facility hours, typically 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Some require appointments; some accept walk-ins. The locator flags the requirement on each listing.

Free Curbside Pickup by Major City

City	Curbside program	How to schedule	Items per pickup
Los Angeles	LA Sanitation bulky-item	Call 311 or use MyLA311 app	Up to 3 per pickup, free
San Diego	Bulky pickup, scheduled	Get It Done app, online portal	Free, 1x per quarter
San Francisco	Recology bulky-item	Online or call Recology	10 free pickups per year
Oakland	Waste Management on-call bulky	Call WM at 800-595-1939	1 free pickup/year, up to 5 items
San Jose	Junk Pickup 4x/year	San Jose Garbage Services	Free, 4 pickups/year
Sacramento	Bulky-waste, on-call	Call 311, online schedule	2 free pickups/year
Fresno	Bulky-item, on-call	Fresno Solid Waste, online	2 free pickups/year
Long Beach	Environmental Services bulky	Online portal or 562-570-2876	Free, 1x per year
Anaheim	Republic Services on-call	Call Republic at 714-238-2444	3 free pickups/year
Bakersfield	Solid Waste bulky service	Online portal	2 free pickups/year

The patchwork above reflects California's reality: there is no statewide curbside system, only the statewide drop-off network and the per-city pickup arrangements that MRC funds at the municipal level. For renters in apartment complexes, the curbside option often does not apply — the complex's waste hauler may not cover individual unit bulky-item pickup. In those cases, the drop-off locator is the path.

What Happens to the Materials

MRC's recycling partners disassemble each mattress into five primary material streams. The breakdown reflects 2024-2025 California recovery data published in MRC's annual report:

Component	Weight share	Recovery rate	Next life
Steel springs and coils	~25-35%	~95%	Scrap steel, rebar, appliances
Polyurethane foam	~20-30%	~70%	Carpet padding, pet beds
Cotton, fiber, felt	~10-15%	~60%	Industrial insulation, wipe rags
Wood frame	~5-10%	~50%	Mulch, biomass fuel
Quilted fabric cover	~5-10%	~30%	Limited industrial use

Roughly 80 percent of the total weight of a recycled California mattress ends up back in the supply chain. The remaining 20 percent — mostly contaminated fabric, adhesives, and unrecoverable foam — goes to waste-to-energy or to engineered landfill. That is dramatically better than the zero-percent recovery for a mattress that lands in a generic bulky-waste pile.

What NOT to Do With an Old Mattress in California

California enforcement around illegal mattress dumping is aggressive. CalRecycle data flags mattress dumping as one of the top three illegal-disposal categories statewide. Penalties matter.

• Do not leave a mattress on the curb unscheduled. Most California cities issue fines from $50 to $250 for unscheduled bulky-item dumping. Repeat offenses can escalate to misdemeanors.
• Do not dump in a commercial dumpster. Apartment complex dumpsters carry security cameras in most California metros; violations are billed back to the unit owner.
• Do not burn. Open burning of mattresses is illegal statewide under the California Code of Regulations and presents a severe wildfire risk in fire-prone counties.
• Do not abandon on public land. Forest Service, BLM, and California State Parks lands are heavily patrolled. Mattress abandonment in those areas is a federal offense with fines up to $5,000.
• Do not donate a recalled mattress. Check the CPSC database (cpsc.gov/Recalls) first. Goodwill and the Salvation Army refuse recalled units and will refer to law enforcement in some cases.

The Saatva Alternative: Skip the Entire Process

If you are reading this because you are about to buy a new mattress in California, the most efficient mattress-disposal strategy is to buy from a brand that includes free old-mattress removal. Among major direct-to-consumer brands, Saatva is the only one that offers free white-glove old-mattress removal at every size, in every California ZIP code, with every delivery. The driver brings the new mattress in, sets it up in the bedroom of your choice, and hauls the old one out to be recycled through MRC's network. You pay nothing extra. You schedule nothing.

Order a Saatva, get free old-mattress removal in California →

Brand	Free CA removal?	Delivery method
Saatva	Yes — included white-glove	In-home setup + haul-away
Amerisleep	No (haul-away available for fee)	Bed-in-a-box ship
Helix	No	Bed-in-a-box ship
Purple	No (white-glove option ~$199)	Bed-in-a-box or white-glove
Tempur-Pedic	No (white-glove option ~$199)	White-glove or curbside
Costco / warehouse	No	Customer pickup

Program History and the Path to the April 2026 Fee Increase

The California Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act (AB 2398) was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2013 and went operational on January 1, 2016, making California the first US state to mandate mattress recycling. The legislation followed years of advocacy from environmental groups and California waste-management authorities who had documented mattress dumping as one of the top three illegal-disposal categories statewide. The program was structured as extended producer responsibility, with manufacturers bearing the cost through a state-collected fee.

The initial $11 fee held for the first nine years of operation. By 2023, CalRecycle's mid-cycle program review documented mounting cost pressures: rising commodity-market volatility on recovered steel (which had been one of the program's largest revenue offsets), expanded geographic coverage requirements pushed by rural-county legislators, and inflation in transportation and labor costs. The fee adjustment from $11 to $18 was approved in 2025 following a year-long public comment period and went into effect April 1, 2026. The new fee covers a planned expansion of drop-off sites in the northern coastal counties (Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino), the desert counties (Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino interior), and the Sierra foothills counties where existing coverage had been thin.

By the end of 2025, the program had cumulatively collected more than 10 million mattresses since launch, diverted an estimated 170,000 tons of material from California landfills, and built a permanent network of 220-plus drop-off sites. CalRecycle's January 2026 review described the program as "among the most successful EPR systems in California history" and as the model the state has subsequently used in scoping similar programs for paint (PaintCare), pharmaceuticals, and household batteries.

Mattress Recycling in California's Rural Counties

The drop-off network is densest in the major metros and thinnest in the rural and high-desert counties. Residents of Humboldt, Del Norte, Lake, Trinity, Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Alpine, Inyo, and Mono counties have historically had the longest drives to reach a drop-off site — in some cases more than 60 miles each way. The April 2026 fee increase funds the expansion that will add eight to twelve new permanent drop-off sites in those underserved counties through 2028.

In the interim, rural residents have three options: drive to the nearest existing drop-off (the MRC locator surfaces the closest site), wait for a periodic mobile-collection event (typically two to four per year in rural counties, announced through the county solid-waste department), or schedule a regional pickup through partner services that MRC reimburses. The mobile-collection events are the most efficient option for rural households because they bring the drop-off to a temporary location in the county for a single day or weekend.

FAQ

Is mattress recycling really free in California?

Yes for the consumer at the disposal end. The cost is pre-paid through the $18 fee every California buyer pays when purchasing a new mattress, foundation, or box spring. The Mattress Recycling Council pools those fees to fund drop-off sites, transport, and recycling operations. From the household perspective at the moment of disposal, the answer is genuinely free.

What is the California mattress recycling fee in 2026?

$18 per new mattress, foundation, or box spring as of April 1, 2026. The fee replaced the previous $11 rate that had been in place since the program launched in 2016. The fee is listed as a separate line item on every receipt and applies regardless of mattress size, retailer, or whether the purchase is online or in-store.

Can I drop off any mattress, even one bought before 2016?

Yes. MRC's drop-off network accepts any mattress in any condition, regardless of when or where it was purchased. The only mattresses the program will refuse are those that are wet, infested with pests, or severely soiled, which present a worker-safety issue at the processing facility.

What if my mattress has bed bugs?

Wrap the mattress in heavy plastic, seal with packing tape, and label as "infested." Most California drop-off sites accept infested mattresses but require the wrapping. Some sites refer infested mattresses to specialized processing partners. Call ahead.

Does California recycle box springs the same way as mattresses?

Yes. Box springs, foundations, and bunkie boards are all covered by the same Bye Bye Mattress program. The $18 fee applies to each unit, and drop-off and curbside pickup work the same way. Wood-frame box springs actually recycle more efficiently than mattresses because the wood, steel, and fabric streams separate cleanly.

Are hotels and businesses subject to the recycling fee?

Yes. There is no commercial exemption. Hotels, hospitals, dormitories, and businesses pay the same $18 per unit. Commercial-volume disposal is handled through MRC's commercial-account program, which provides scheduled pickup direct from the property at no additional charge.

Can I get a refund of the recycling fee if I take the mattress out of state?

No. The fee is paid into the MRC California fund at point of sale and is non-refundable, even if the mattress is later transported out of California. The fee is the trade-off for the lifetime free-disposal guarantee within California.

Will the $18 fee increase again?

The fee schedule is now reviewed every three years under CalRecycle's revised regulatory framework. The next review window opens in 2028. Forecasted next adjustments depend on commodity markets, particularly recovered-steel pricing. Past program adjustments have always been upward (from $11 to $18), and program economics suggest the next review could push the fee to $20 to $25 if recovered-steel revenue stays soft.

What is the difference between California's program and Oregon's?

California's program is the oldest and largest in the country, operational since 2016 with cumulative collection over 10 million mattresses. Oregon's program launched January 2025 with a higher fee ($22.50 per unit) and collected 130,000 mattresses in its first year. Oregon's program is denser per capita (more drop-off sites per resident) but California's is more mature and has wider commercial-account adoption.

Editorial note and sources

MattressNut cross-referenced the Mattress Recycling Council California program page (mattressrecyclingcouncil.org/programs/california/), CalRecycle's January 2026 program review, byebyemattress.com's California drop-off locator, and city sanitation pages for Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno, Long Beach, Anaheim, and Bakersfield. Fee data confirmed from CalRecycle regulatory filing approving the April 2026 fee adjustment.