Can I Take a Mattress to the Tip in Bradford?
Yes, and free. Bradford accepts mattresses at every household waste recycling centre, with no site restriction and no quantity cap, which is unusual for Bradford. If you cannot get it there, a council bulky collection is £30 for up to three items, maximum three. Mattresses cannot go in a skip and will not fit a wheelie bin. Kruze collects them from the room they are in, across Bradford and West Yorkshire, from £45, under Waste Carrier Licence CBDU597687. Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
The one bulky item Bradford does not restrict
Bradford restricts more items at its tips than any other council in our area. Plasterboard, tyres and asbestos are all tied to named sites, and fridges are suspended entirely. Mattresses are the exception.
A mattress is one of the few large household items that has nowhere obvious to go. It will not fit in a wheelie bin, it is banned from skips, and charities will only take it if the fire safety label is still attached and it is genuinely sound. That leaves the tip, a council collection, or a licensed carrier.
What Bradford Council allows at the tip
Mattresses sit on Bradford’s published list of materials accepted at household waste recycling centres, with no site restriction and no quantity cap written against them. That is worth noticing, because Bradford restricts a lot of other things. Plasterboard is capped at two rubble bags a week and only at Bowling Back Lane and Keighley. Tyres are capped at four and tied to the same two sites. Asbestos is Bowling Back Lane only. Fridges are suspended altogether. Mattresses are one of the few bulky items Bradford simply takes.
Source: Bradford Council on mattresses.
What a Bradford Council collection costs
Bradford’s bulky service is a flat £30 for up to three items, booked and paid online or on 01274 431000. Crews cannot take payment on the day. A mattress counts as one item. A bed base counts as another and must be dismantled before they will take it.
Source: Bradford Council bulky waste collections.
The covering rule that gets collections missed
Bradford asks that soft furnishings, mattresses included, are covered to protect them from the weather while they wait outside for collection. A mattress left out uncovered through a wet Bradford night is a mattress the crew can decline. Plan for a tarpaulin or a bin bag taped over it, and remember crews will not enter homes, sheds, garages or outbuildings to fetch it.
The trade waste line
Household waste recycling centres are for household waste from residents. If you are a landlord clearing a void, an agent clearing between tenancies, or a business getting rid of beds from a let, that is trade waste and the household route is closed to you. Turning up with it can mean a refusal at the gate at best and enforcement at worst.
That is not us talking you out of the tip. It is the line the councils draw, and it is the single most common reason a Bradford mattress job ends up with us.
The worked comparison
A double mattress and a divan base, in Bradford.
| Route | Cost | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Bradford Council tip | Free | Fit it in a car, drive it, lift it into the skip yourself |
| Bradford Council collection | £30, because two items sits inside the three item band | Get it outside before the crew arrives, wait for the date |
| Kruze | £105 for the pair | Nothing. We come to the room it is in |
For a mattress and base with no deadline and a way to get them to the kerb, £30 is good value and hard to argue with. The case for calling us is the stairs and the wait. Bradford crews collect from outside your property, so if the bed is on the first floor of a terrace you are moving it yourself, and you are moving it the night before.
What it costs with Kruze
Mattress prices are fixed and itemised, so you know before we set off.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Single mattress | £45 |
| Double mattress | £60 |
| King size mattress | £70 |
| Divan base | £45 |
The price includes the labour and the disposal. There is no call out charge and nothing is added afterwards. We are a licensed waste carrier, registration CBDU597687, and every job produces a waste transfer note, which is what covers your duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
What we do that the council route does not: we carry it out. Council crews collect from outside your property, so a mattress on the first floor is your problem until it reaches the kerb. Ours is a two person lift from the room it is in, stairs included.
Why mattresses are priced separately from ordinary rubbish
Two reasons, and neither of them is POPs.
They are refused by skips. A mattress will not compact. The springs hold their shape and the foam springs back, so it takes up the same space at the tip that it did in your bedroom. That is why every skip hire company in the country prohibits them and why they are charged per item rather than by weight.
They are not upholstered seating. Sofas, armchairs and upholstered dining chairs are POPs waste and must go to an authorised facility. Government guidance is explicit that mattresses, curtains, blinds and beds are not domestic seating and are not covered by that guidance. Anyone telling you your mattress costs more because of POPs has it wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to take a mattress to a Bradford tip in a van?
Yes. Bradford operates a van permit scheme at its household waste recycling centres and several vehicle types are refused outright. A mattress in the boot of a car needs nothing. A mattress in a van needs a permit first.
Can a landlord take a tenant’s mattress to the tip?
No. Household waste recycling centres take household waste from residents. Clearing a rental property is trade waste, and Bradford’s policy says any vehicle appearing to carry commercial waste or visiting repeatedly will be challenged, with a home visit possible to check where the waste came from.
Will Bradford take a mattress that has been left in the rain?
At the tip, yes. On a bulky collection it is riskier, because Bradford asks for soft furnishings to be covered and a soaked mattress can be declined at the kerb.
Can I put a mattress in a skip?
No. Mattresses are on the prohibited list for skip hire everywhere, because the springs will not compact and the foam springs back. That is a skip rule, not a Kruze rule. We collect mattresses perfectly happily.
Book a mattress collection in Bradford
Send a photo on WhatsApp and you get a fixed price back, usually within minutes. Tell us which floor it is on, because that changes our job and it is the part the council route does not cover.
Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
Written by Sandeep KV, Founder of Kruze. Kruze is a licensed waste carrier based in Leeds, Waste Carrier Licence CBDU597687, serving Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Harrogate and Barnsley. Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
Mattress rules in the other areas we cover
Every council here takes a mattress at the tip for free. What they differ on is the price of collecting one from your door, and what happens to it afterwards.
More on tipping in Bradford
- Bulky waste collection in Bradford
- Van and trailer permits for the Bradford tip
- Plasterboard at the Bradford tip
- Asbestos at the Bradford tip
- Fridges and freezers at the Bradford tip
Clearing the building work rather than the bedroom? Soil and rubble at the Bradford tip has its own rules again.
The other thing that will not go in a bin or a skip: tyres at the Bradford tip.
Licensed, fixed price, usually same day. Book a Bradford rubbish collection.