This is a really unique idea that just may quench your thirst for “living green” during the holidays.  You’ll definitely want to recycle this holiday tree!  Do you Mt. Dew?  The good news is I guess you could build the same tree with 7UP or Sierra Mist cans.  The bad news is I don’t believe Republic Services will pick it up in tree form at the curb.  Check it out.  http://mdewtree.com/  Do you have some cool or unusual ways to celebrate being green during the holidays?  Share them with us.

Republic Services provides right, white, and blue recycling containers to sort platic, metal, glass, and paper.

In our Living Green series, we’ve been looking at easy ways to recycle at home. Maybe you have the red, white and blue bins but don’t know exactly what can go in them. Here’s a simple how-to and why these resources are so valuable.

“This is recyclable. This is #2 plastic. Each plastic container has a symbol on the bottom with a # in the middle — 1’s and 2’s are recyclable in your red crate,” said Tara Pike, director of recycling at UNLV.

Look at the symbol on the bottom. Only 1’s and 2’s are accepted in the red bin. That would be water bottles, soda bottles, milk jugs and many detergent jugs. Aluminum cans go in the red bin with plastics, and so do steel cans like those from veggies, canned meats, etc.

Plastic grocery bags must be taken back to the grocery store to be recycled. Plastics have an amazing after-life. They can be made into more containers like for shampoo and household cleaners, carpet, plastic lumber for picnic tables, food trays and flower pots and even recycling bins.

Your white bins hold the most common recyclable — paper. Newspaper, magazines and junk mail, telephone books, and lightweight cardboard like cereal boxes — anything you can tear.

Uncontaminated newspaper can be made into newspaper again. Other paper can be used to make insulation and kitty litter, napkins and paper towels and chipboard for lightweight food packaging.

And the blue bins are for glass bottles, beverage bottles, glass jars. Important to keep glass separate, rinse and remove caps. Don’t break the glass. No mirrors or plateglass or China dishes.

Glass bottles most often can be reused as glass bottles. Recycled glass can also make fiberglass insulation, filtration systems and even in some construction and road pavement applications.