If you've had enough of looking at that musty old couch or need to finally get rid of that antiquated refrigerator, get ready to haul it out to the street.

April 21-25 is Spring Cleanup Week in Shelbyville, which gives residents the opportunity to get rid of all that junk that's been pilling up.

Public Works Director Mark Clanton said the cleanup is centered mostly around household items such as refrigerators, chairs and couches, "anything that is not hazardous." The county held its Household Hazardous Waste event last weekend.

Items like old washers and dryers, tables, and other furniture can be set out to the roadway this coming week for the city to pick up. The city will pick these items up next week on the regular garbage day for a given location from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m..

No brush will be accepted in next week's cleanup.

The event is now four years old, Clanton said. Before it became an bi-annual affair, items would be left by the roadside throughout the year and workers would pick them up every week, but the cost of doing so led the city council to limit such pickups to twice a year.

If someone wants an item picked up at any other time of the year, there's a $25 fee, Clanton said. But the spring and fall cleanup is free.

"It has been a tremendous success," Clanton said of previous cleanups. "It don't matter if it's one or five truckloads. We'll pick it up."

The city picked up 85 loads of items last year. Clanton estimated that about 450 yards of material would come out of next week's cleanup.

Sanitation Officer Jake Lane heads up the effort and said the most common item disposed of would be furniture. Material like refrigerators and other appliances goes into the city's recycle bin, Clanton explained.

Lane said he could tell some stories about a few of the discarded items. "Sometimes it's junk, sometimes it's goodies." Items like good tires will be discarded and even lawn mowers that didn't start on the first crank.

"You've always heard that expression 'one man trash is another man's treasure,' " Clanton said. "That's very true. It's very interesting what people put out there to throw away."

Residents will also hold yard sales and move what doesn't get sold the rest of the way to the street, Clanton mentioned.