Address the Mess

Your TV's full of dirty stuff. Electronic circuit boards, batteries, and color cathode ray tubes (CRTs) can contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium. Ooh, yeah... chromium. That stuff's even nastier than what's in your bedside drawer.

Hit up your local Staples. They make it easy for you to recycle e-waste -- simply bring your used computers, monitors, laptops, printers and fax machines to any store, regardless of whether or not it was purchased from Staples, where the equipment will be recycled in accordance with environmental laws. But for the sake of the staff, clean up your hard drive first!

Pass on the pleasure. If there's nothing wrong with the phone, TV, or computer you're replacing, donate it. Ealworks.org can get your computer to a needy student and wirelessfoundation.org turns your old phone into a lifeline for victims of domestic abuse.

Complete the circle of consumer electronics. Sony is partnering with Waste Management (WM) Recycle America to allow consumers to recycle all Sony-branded products for no fee as part of The Sony Take Back Recycling Program. Just bring your broken-down DVD player, old Walkman and ex-boyfriend's PlayStation to one of 75 WM eCycling drop-off centers and have them crushed into utter nothingness at the manufacturer's expense.

For more tips like these, head to the Natural Resources Defense Council's itsyournature.org.

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