News Photo by Mike Gonzalez Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson, vice chair of the recycling board, works in the meeting room of Alpena City Hall on Wednesday evening.

ALPENA — Cleanup Day, an annual event that allows Alpena County residents to toss out large items such as tires, house appliances, and furniture, returns on May 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Northern Lights Arena, 751 Woodward Ave. in Alpena.

The Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority board has discussed the event, along with an additional electronic waste collection day on June 1, every monthly board meeting since the year started, preparing for a large day for the group.

Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson, vice chair of the recycling board, said the recycling organization is not able to utilize its funds for the cleanup day, so the nearly $35,000 event is brought together by donations, grants, and more.

“We think it’s important enough to do it because if we don’t do county-wide cleanup day, people who have a refrigerator don’t know what to do with it and they throw it in a ditch,” Johnson said. “Years ago, we decided to start cleanup day to help keep the community clean and it works.”

The idea of a cleanup day for Alpena County dates back to 1999 in the county’s solid waste management plan as a selected alternative “to address the increasing problem of dumping solid waste in the woods.”

Johnson said this is a big event for the county and that the group usually needs help from partners such as Holcim and Habitat for Humanity to get all materials out and appropriately managed.

“We have more tires in this community than I think a tire factory,” Johnson said, jokingly. “We have two trailers coming from a tire grant we apply for every year, but then Holcim brings us even more trailers for tires. They take the tires from us free of charge and they take them to their tire factory and have them shredded, so we are grateful for the help Holcim has given us the last couple of years.”

Participants can give one house appliance and two mattresses or box springs for free, but the recycling group requires additional charges for more units. Tires with rims are $1 for each unit but will go up to $2 beyond 10 tires. Farmers are also allowed to give one tractor tire for free.

Johnson said that other items, like lawnmowers, can be donated, but any oil for the machines must be removed.

“Everything that isn’t electronics, with the exception like they can’t bring us like a hot tub or a boat,” Johnson said. “People have come to depend on cleanup day. Maybe the same people don’t come every year, but every year you’ll get different people because you know we get rid of our junk.”

For more information on both cleanup days, visit facebook.com/alpenarecycling.org or call 989-354-2607.