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How to get rid of a mattress, couch, TV or old appliance in Lethbridge

How to dispose of a mattress, couch, TV or fridge in Lethbridge: City large-item pickup, depot mattress recycling, free e-waste drop-off and Freon rules.

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Start with the City's free Large Item Service

If you have a residential utility account with the City of Lethbridge, you get two complimentary large-item pickups a year, at least three months apart. Call 311 or 403-320-3111 with your utility account number, agree a date with the scheduler, and put the items in the alley or at the front, away from your carts, 24 hours before. Each pickup is capped at 250 kg or 550 lbs, up to ten bags of 25 kg and five large items, and every item must be liftable by two people and no longer than 8 feet.

The accepted list covers exactly the things this page is about: household furnishings, mattresses, appliances, sinks, toilets and bathtubs, bicycles, lawn mowers with the gas and battery out, and gas barbecues with the tank removed. Two rules to know: a Freon appliance counts as two pickups, and a water softener must be empty. Commercial properties are not eligible, and the service refuses electronics, tires, construction material, fences, decks, concrete, sod and hazardous waste.

Mattresses and box springs

Since April 1, 2026, mattresses and box springs are accepted at the yard waste sites at the City's three drop-off depots: 296 Bridge Drive West, 2200 Stafford Drive North and 2665 28 Avenue South. They are shipped to a local recycler that pulls out the springs, wood, foam and fabric instead of burying them. The yard waste sites are open April to mid-November, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Outside those months, or if the mattress shows any sign of bed bugs, wrap it in plastic and take it to the Waste and Recycling Centre, where it is charged as general waste by weight.

Thrift stores will not take it. Salvation Army Thrift Stores nationally list beds, mattresses and box springs among the items they cannot accept. If you have no truck and the mattress is coming out of an upstairs bedroom in a West Lethbridge townhouse, the crew we connect you with carries it down and takes it the same week, with the fee stated on the phone.

Couches and furniture

A couch that is still good has a second life; a couch that is not goes to the landfill as general waste at $115 per tonne, and most couches weigh well under that. The problem with a couch is never the fee, it is the stairs. The Large Item Service will take it if it can sit at the curb for a scheduled day. A hauler will take it from the room it is in.

Donation is harder than most people expect. Salvation Army Thrift Stores do not accept furniture and do not offer pickup. The Second Door Thrift Store, run by the Interfaith Food Bank at 1103 3 Avenue North, cannot take furniture, large appliances or electronics for lack of space, though it welcomes dishes, cookware, small appliances and books, Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Habitat Canada's ReStore locator lists Medicine Hat and Calgary as the nearest ReStores. For furniture, the realistic routes are a local listing, the City pickup, or a hauler who diverts usable pieces where an outlet exists.

Televisions, computers and other electronics

Electronics are the easy one. Alberta's provincial program, run by the Alberta Recycling Management Authority, covers more than 500 product types, including televisions and monitors of every size, computers, laptops and tablets, printers, small home appliances, audio and video gear, and power tools and lawn equipment. You already paid for the recycling when you bought the device: the environmental fee on a display 30 inches or larger is $2.75, and on a smaller one $1.30, charged at the till.

In Lethbridge, electronic waste is accepted free at the Waste and Recycling Centre for anyone, resident or not. The three in-town recycling depots do not take electronics, and neither does the Large Item Service. The provincial depot finder at albertarecycling.ca lists registered drop-off sites if you are outside the city.

Fridges, freezers and other appliances

Stoves, washers, dryers and dishwashers are scrap metal: $10 per tonne at the Waste and Recycling Centre, which for a single machine means the $5 minimum. Fridges, freezers, air conditioners and dehumidifiers are different because of the refrigerant. The City adds a $35 surcharge per unit on any Freon appliance brought in without proof that a licensed individual removed the refrigerant. The Large Item Service will take one, but it counts as two of your yearly pickups.

Disconnecting is on you or your plumber or gas fitter; the crew removes appliances that are already disconnected, drained and pulled from the wall. A hot water tank should be empty before pickup day.

Which route fits your situation

Use the City pickup when the items are few, two-person light, and the route day is soon enough. Use the depots for a mattress on your own schedule and the landfill's free station for the old TV. Use a hauler when the pile is over 250 kg, upstairs, includes things the City refuses, or the suite has to be empty by month end.

Need it hauled or installed?

Call (587) 813-0710 or request a call back. This website connects Lethbridge residents with a local, licensed and insured junk removal company. Calls and form submissions go directly to that company, which quotes and completes the work.

Related services

Residential Junk Removal

Furniture, mattresses, boxes and the basement that never got finished.

Appliance Removal

Fridges, freezers, stoves, washers and dryers, carried out and disposed of properly.

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