When you’re putting used office paper into the recycling bin, be mindful of one thing: Keep deeply dyed or brightly colored paper out. Imagine a new red sock going into a load of white laundry. Brightly colored paper will leave ink all over the white pulped paper, making the recyclable paper worthless. This means keeping construction paper and crafting paper supplies out of the recycling bin. The only kinds of colored paper that are really acceptable are lightly colored in the pastel shade color spectrum. But you know the rule: When in doubt, toss it out.

Ever wonder if you can reuse cardboard egg cartons? There are myriad craft ideas online, but if you’re not crafty, you can still divert them from the trash. One thing to do is save them and use them as packing filler when you’re shipping items. Empty space in shipping boxes is a big no-no when mailing things, and the stiff but lightweight cartons are great to fill up space and protect the box's contents. You can also save cartons and bring them to neighbors who sell eggs or to local farmers markets; they’ll gladly take them and reuse them for eggs. And of course the easiest of all: Tear your cartons into small pieces and add them to your compost bin. They will break down into beneficial mulch.

If you’ve got a stash of old computers and technical accessories gathering dust at home or in your workplace, take them to Goodwill. It will accept old computers and peripherals like monitors, printers, scanners, hard drives, keyboards, mice, speakers, cords, cables and even old printer cartridges to either be refurbished or recycled. There is no such thing as “bad tech” according to Goodwill; it will take everything -- whether it works or not. Every computer and hard drive is given a complete wipe of information, and your donation not only supports the good works of Goodwill, it also keeps out-of-date or broken equipment out of landfills.