Spring has begun, and so has the annual tradition of spring cleaning. For parts of Butler County, May 13 is the perfect day to safely and cheaply dispose of unwanted items.

On that day, four county municipalities — Connoquenessing and Forward townships and Evans City and Connoquenessing boroughs — will join forces to hold a cleanup day at the Forward Township municipal building, 207 Ash Stop Road.

This will be the second of five cleanup days held across Butler County this year, with the first held in Butler on April 1. Subsequent county cleanup events will be conducted in Prospect on July 15, in Penn Township on Sept. 2, and in Mars on Nov. 11.

As usual, there will be multiple Dumpsters on-site for residents to discard unwanted items. Some can be disposed at no charge. These include plastics, metal and yard and garden materials. Other items, such as car batteries, microwaves, hot water tanks, and large appliances will cost $5 each to discard.

This year, Noble Environmental of Belle Vernon, has been employed to collect potentially hazardous household items such as electronic waste, paint products, propane cylinders and anything containing Freon. Preregistration is required before disposing of any such items at the event, and can be done by phone at 412-567-6566 or through Noble’s website at nobleenviro.com.

As in previous years, the nonprofit organization Tri-County Cleanways will collect used and unwanted tires. Some classes of tire will cost more than others to discard, ranging from $3 each for ordinary passenger tires to $30 for tractor-trailer tires with rims. There is a maximum of 20 tires per person.

A list of items that cannot be disposed of at the event includes explosives, ammunition, radioactive materials, syringes, medical waste, fire extinguishers or anything containing mercury. For a complete list of what can and can’t be disposed of at the event, visit the Forward Township website at forwardtwpbutlerco.us.