It’s not your imagination. It’s hard to find places to recycle CD and DVDs. Every month approximately 100,000 pounds of CDs are discarded each month and almost 30 billion disks per year are produced. They’re largely nontoxic, but the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition recommends that they not be thrown away (landfilled) or burned. They’re mainly made of plastic, and they take many years to degrade in the environment. With that in mind, here are some things you or your organization do with them that's a little better for the world.

Softchoice, EPEAT, and CNET recently announced the launch of a new, searchable online database that allows you to sort through hundreds of thousands of IT products to find those with the highest 'green' rankings.

Next time you're in the market for a new computer, look for one with the Energy Star logo (pictured below). Energy Star computers consume 15 to 25 percent less energy than standard new computers, according to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

Whether you are using a Mac or PC, a laptop or a desktop, your computer has power-management features that can help you save money, reduce your impact on the environment, and extend the life of your hardware.

Last week, we advocated shutting (or powering) down your computer if you weren't planning on using it for a period of two or more hours. This week, we'll introduce you to your computer's energy-saving features, which you can use even if you're only stepping away from your computer for as little as 15 to 20 minutes.

Reducing your computer's power consumption can be a surprisingly easy way to save money, do a little something for the planet, and extend your equipment's life.

There are three ways to manage the power consumption of your computer:

You know that getting a refurbished computer is better for the environment, but you may have held off because you thought they couldn't perform well enough for your nonprofit. Now, the RCI program at TechSoup Stock is giving you another reason to go green: it recently announced that it's upgrading many of its refurbished desktop and laptop computers to include more RAM, more hard drive space, or both.

According to a new Salon.com article, chances are that your nonprofit office is filled with vampire appliances, plugged-in electronic equipment and chargers that continue to consume electricity even when they're turned off, adding to your electric bill and spewing CO2 into the air:

Find additional tools and tips for greening your nonprofit through TechSoup's GreenTech Initiative, where social benefit organizations can share and learn more about technology choices that can help to reduce our overall impact on the environment.

Everyone knows that spam can waste your time, introduce viruses to your computer, and potentially lure you into a costly, life-ruining Nigerian 419 scam.

Find additional tools and tips for greening your nonprofit through TechSoup's GreenTech Initiative, where social benefit organizations can share and learn more about technology choices that can help to reduce our overall impact on the environment.

Billing itself as "a new global online community that provides free, easy-to-use tools to help participants assess, track, and compare business energy performance, share proven best practices to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and encourage sustainable innovation," Sun Microsystems launched a new site called OpenEco for businesses and organizations to calculate and figure out their carbon footprint and potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Startup Solis Energy is introducing a new technology that will allow Wi-Fi routers to run on sunshine, offering greater connectivity to organizations working in the field or in emergencies.

Via Computerworld: