Odds are you've come into contact with a plastic jewel case, whether at work or at home. Each month over 100,000 pounds of CDs and DVDs become obsolete in the U.S., with a majority headed for the landfill, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While reusing the cases for future CDs and DVDs has traditionally been a good way to divert the pesky plastics from being thrown out, NBC Universal is now using an innovative closed-loop recycling process to make 100 percent post consumer recycled paper cases from the 30 Rockefeller Plaza office trash.

So how does it work? With the help of the NBCU facilities team, a compactor in the basement of 30 Rockefeller Plaza has been isolated specifically for NBC Universal paper trash. One week yields approximately 10 tons of paper, which is then picked up by NBCU's recycling company, IESI, and brought to Pratt Industries on Staten Island. While at Pratt, the paper is sorted, bailed, and pulped. The pulp then enters warm water where it will be deinked, drained, dried, and wound onto a reel. Pratt then takes the material and uses their on-site box plant to create NBCU's customized DVD cases.

I recently received an email from a friend with all of this recycling advice from The Nature Conservancy and I thought I'd share:

Aerosol cans: pull off the plastic cap, empty the canister completely and recycle with other cans.

Antiperspirant and deodorant sticks: Many brands have a dial on the bottom that is made of a plastic polymer that's different from the plastic used for the container, so you might not be able to recycle the whole thing (look on the bottom to find out). Tom's of Maine makes a deodorant stick composed solely of plastic No. 5.

Backpacks: The American Birding Association accepts donated backpacks, which its scientists use while tracking neotropical birds (americanbirding.org).

Batteries: Drop off at the recycling center. For car batteries - almost any retailer selling them will also collect and recycle them.

Bottle Caps: Visit Recycle Caps with Aveda for more information.

Carpeting (nylon fiber): Go to carpetrecovery.org and click on "What can I do with my old carpet?" to find a carpet-reclamation facility near you, or check with your carpet's manufacturer.

Ever wonder what to do with all those beautiful cards you received in holiday seasons past?

If you're anything like me, you save them with the highest hopes of making something, like a beautiful decoupage box that you can give to an unsuspecting friend whose card is the center piece for your design. But in reality, they stay in a box that gathers dust until the next holiday season where you plop some more cards on the pile!

St. Jude's Ranch for Children is here to help. Their Recycled Card Program accepts all occasion cards for a limited time through out the year.

The children participate in making the new cards by removing the fronts and attaching new backs. The result is a beautiful new card made by the children and volunteers that St. Jude can then in their online shop. And for a limited time, as a special thank you to their customers, all recycled card orders will be shipped free.

For more info, go to http://www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php.

The second and final collection day of green screens was an even bigger hit than Saturday.  At almost every location, collection numbers were larger.  Check out the widget below.  Previous means Saturday, November 15th and Current means today, Sunday, November 16th.  Yes, that's 206,000 lbs. collected just today!  For a total New York City collection of 359,000 pounds of electronic waste this weekend.  What a wonderful way to kick off Green Week!

Again, I want to thank all of the New Yorkers who turned out in the thousands this weekend to recycle your electronic waste responsibly.  I worked at the Queens location and we saw some folks come back up to three times.  Every time with a smile and appreciation that we were offering this event.  A lot of people also asked when we would do this again.  So check back at greenisuniversal.com/greenscreens often for updates on our next event.

The first day of Green is Universal and the City of New York's green screens event was a HUGE hit! Thanks to the thousands of New Yorkers who braved the rainy, cold weather we have collected a total of 153,000 pounds of electronic waste today! You helped make National Recycling Day special for Green is Universal and New York City.

We are still on for tomorrows event, so please, if you weren't one of the thousands who came out today, make the trip tomorrow to your borough's location. For more info on times and locations check out our nifty widget below or visit greenisuniversal.com/greenscreens.

We need YOU! Please volunteer to help make this event a success.

Have you ever been to your grandmother's house and seen kitchen appliances that she bought in the 50s that are still kicking?  And what's more, they don't seem like they are going anywhere too quickly.  After I bought my own home a few years ago and started buying newer versions of these appliances I couldn't help but notice the difference between what I was buying and what I had seen growing up with Grandma.  I kind of assumed that since my products had been outsourced to developing countries so that I could buy them cheaper, that was the reason and left it at that.

By Susanne Sonderhoff, Marketing Manager, HP Social, Environmental Responsibility

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone in New York and around the country that has come out during Earth Week 2008 to responsibly dispose of their old electronics. While there are many industries that have a very obvious impact on the environment, technology is not typically the first that comes to mind since the production and use of technology products doesn't directly involve carving holes into the earth, felling trees, or using up excessive amounts of water. So why are tech companies taking environmental issues so seriously?

By Dan Estabrook, GreenDimes.com

I spent yesterday beginning the process of "greening" the NBC Universal Corporate Mailroom at 30 Rockefeller Plaza by eliminating the company's junk mail. If you don't know about GreenDimes, we are the trusted leaders in eliminating junk mail for consumers. When you purchase our full service reduction service, we also plant 5 trees to help offset the waste even more. You can find out more at www.greendimes.com.

GreenDimes is working with NBC Universal during Earth Week to promote junk mail elimination. If you visit the NBC Experience Store, you will find a kiosk where you can order our service. The windows at Rockefeller Center are decorated with junk mail exhibits and it was amazing to see the GreenDimes logo in the middle of it all. The whole display is eye-catching and very cool.

I arrived to the mailroom to find 17 boxes filled to the brim with junk sent to NBC over three days last week. I expected volumes, but I was shocked to find over 1,000 pounds of junk mail. Over an average week, that works out to just over 2,100 pounds (assuming not so much comes in on weekends). Per day, it equals 300 pounds (as much as the average household receives in one year, based on our data). That's three entire trees!