Cook'n is the best selling recipe organizer

One of the resolutions I want to keep for this New Year is learning how to recycle more and "waste" less. Whether you call it "reducing your carbon footprint", or "going green", the outcome is the same: less land-fill, more recycling. This may be something you would like to do as well so why don't we begin together by recycling our Christmas trees!

According to The Daily Green, trees take up quite a bit of landfill space, and decay is slow due to the lack of oxygen. However your beautiful, soon-to-be-ornament-barren tree can be ground into wood chips or made into compost. According to new data from Nielsen Research, approximately 21.6 million real trees were purchased this year. If you ask me, that would make for a lot of wood chips.

The industry group National Christmas Tree Association has teamed up with Scottsdale, Arizona-based conservation group Earth911 (www.Earth911.com) to show customers where to go to recycle their trees. I went to their web-site where at the very top you will find a box that says, "Find Recycling Centers". Type in "Christmas trees" in the box, and then your zip-code in the box next to it. Several locations within a 25 mile radius will appear. Some sites may only be for those residents living in a certain town, but there will be others as well. To my understanding, there is no drop-off fee. I'd like to believe that when spring arrives, my tree will come back to me in the form of compost. But, I'm a little weird that way.

If you would like some other great ideas on how, and what to recycle, I would recommend sleuthing around the Earth 911 website. They seem to have everything covered in easy to read detail. I came across the following ideas for recycling old egg cartons that I thought I would share with you.

Makeshift piggy bank - Use an egg carton to store that pesky small change that doesn't fit in your wallet. The coins can be separated by numerical value and are easy to sort, see and reclaim.

Plant containers or seed starters - Poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage and fill to about three-quarters capacity with potting soil. Plant seeds and set in a sunny window. Cut each cup from the tray and plant after seedlings sprout. This is a great project for kids.

Shipping material - If you plan to mail something fragile, simply cut up a few polystyrene egg cartons (made of the same material as foam peanuts!) to make lightweight packing material to protect the contents.

Desk and jewelry organizer - Remove the top of the egg carton and paint or cover with fabric. Presto! It can now be used to store rings, earrings, chains, cuff links and other such items. You can also store it inside a drawer to hold paper clips, eraser stubs, rubber bands and push pins.

Storage helping hand - Egg cartons are great for holding small pieces of jewelry, spools of thread and sewing needles (weave through the inside top cover for safety reasons) while traveling. Hold the container together with a large rubber band so it won't open in your suitcase.

Are you an avid golf player? Sort your extra balls by brand, store and stack neatly in egg cartons.

To keep track of Christmas decorations, line the cups of an egg carton with cotton, foam or tissue paper and use to store tree bulbs and ornaments. An egg carton is also very useful for game and toy storage. Never lose those doll shoes, game pieces, dice and Legos ever again!