Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Nah.

10 days into 2012, we reflect on 10 milestones for 2011.

#1 The most renewed device in both the consumer and corporate realms was the BlackBerry Curve 8310.

#2 The most valuable device renewed in the consumer realm was an Apple Macbook Air.

#3 The most valuable device renewed in the corporate realm it was an Apple iPhone 4 S 16GB.

#4 Corporate Renew’s first full year processed 2,219 corporate orders.

#5 The most active state for consumer orders was across the state in California.

#6 The article that drove the most traffic to www.YouRenew.com was “Yahoo Shine: Electronics Recycling for Cash“.

#7 The YouRenew Blog made a comeback.

#8 We became better at tweeting. #YouRenew

#9 We profiled a several members of the YouRenew team on YouRenew’s Facebook page.  (Become a fan of a YouRenew employee/ learn more about the people behind the biz here.)

#10 The most popular post on the YouRenew Blog was “The 2010 YouRenew Roundup“.

It may still be January, but we’re already on track to top last year’s milestones first and foremost by surviving the impending apocalypse.  Even if the world is going to end, isn’t it comforting to know that you can always depend on #YouRenew to #ecycle your #ewaste?

Advertisement for the Filbert 2790, the phone of 1911.

During the winter of 1911, magazine advertisements were recommending that bewildered American men who were shopping for Christmas presents, should buy their wife a Bell company telephone (image featured above):

What do diapers, Aladdin and an orange juice squeezer all have in common? 

It’s December, which means it’s time for the obligatory end of year list documenting the Top 10 of something.  In honor of this tradition, YouRenew sorted through the phones, laptops and calculators to document the ‘Top 10 Strangest Items Received in the Mail’.  None of the senders were paid to recycle, but all of them will forever be immortalized in YouRenew’s Hall of Fame for People Who Need to Be Asked, “Really?”

Top 10 Strangest Items Received in the Mail
A countdown from least to most bizarre.

#10 Prototype Nokia Phones (never made available to customers)  – not much to say on this except, keep reading, it’s about to get weird.

#9 Apple knockoffs: fake iPods, iPhones, etc. — We know these are fake because when we ask for Siri, we get her voicemail.  (lolz!!)

#8 Land-line phones — basically antiquated.

#7 Large C & D Cell Batteries — some of the most useless batteries around. Thanks.

#6 Inkjet Printer — slightly more useful than the batteries. Note to sender: please send us the ink now.

#2 Packing material in the form of: an unopened pack of Lay’s Kettle Cooked Maui Onion chips and an (unused) diaper.YouRenew Operations Technician, Jason Weber, who helped compile this list, had this to say about the diaper, “I’m not sure if their intent was a symbolic statement, but the phones were definitely ‘refuse’.”

#1 Disney VHS Movies — it is incredible that more than one person has thought of sending Disney in, in particular. What is the thought process that has led so many to the same conclusion? Can anyone explain?  At one point, the (sadly) underused YouRenew VHS (to repeat, VHS… as in, a tape you put in a VCR player) Library stocked, among others, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

Thank you to our more creative customers for making this list possible.

Happy Holidays from YouRenew!

Do you or your neighbors trash everything with no shame- including electronics? A recent law passed in Illinois will outlaw throwing away electronics, beginning January 2012.  Consumers will be forced to find a way to recycle them instead. Seems like an easy step towards a greener future, but recycling electronics is a still a new age phenomenon.

In an informal survey of some of my friends, I discovered that about 90% of them did not recycle electronics. Many cited the inconvenience of finding a vendor, others admitted they were too lazy, still others had no idea it was even possible. What happens to their old electronics? For the most part they sit around, gathering dust.  This unscientific research still points towards one conclusion: very few people seem to know that electronic recycling is the way of the future. Even if they do, they don’t realize just how easy it can be (insert plug for YouRenew here). As our world becomes more and more technology- dependent and as our households accumulate more and more electronic waste, it will become imperative to learn how to recycle these gadgets.  Not doing so could jeopardize our environment and our personal health.  Society must begin thinking about how to spread awareness of responsible electronic recycling, and how to make it accessible to all individuals.  How do we get the word out?

Do we reform classroom syllabi? Or, do we start trending #electronicrecycling on Twitter? How do we make it easy to do?  Do we create recycling bins for electronics right next to the ones for bottles and paper? Or, do we need a state law to get us motivated?

Share your ideas. Let’s RENEW (Awwww YEAH!) the recycling movement!

A few of our favorite things: job growth, recycling, and a healthy environment.

Republicans seeking an edge in the umpteenth GOP debate may want to read a recently published report by the National Resources Defense Council.  The environmental action group has released findings indicating that in going green we can make green.  More specifically, investing in national recycling strategies will stimulate long- term job creation.  “Hallelujah!” says a country facing a 9% unemployment rate.  (Hint: that country is the United States of America.)

According to the report, throwing things away (creating waste) does not require a ton of human resources; it’s not “labor intensive”.  You only need one or two dudes (relatively speaking) to get the job done. Generally, when you throw something away, the garbage truck picks it up, and it sits in a dump.  The report goes on to astutely point out that recycling requires a lot more minds at work: many different things can happen to a product that is recycled depending on what that product is.  Recycling is labor intensive.  To this end, in a moment of inspiration, the report renames the “waste sector” into the “materials management sector”.

Whoa!!

In the “Green Economy Scenario”, which imagines what would happen if America became a recycling maven and recycled 75% of its trash, by 2030 this recycling would be directly responsible for (drum roll): 2,347,000 jobs.

Trying to conceptualize this number? This is nearly 1.5 million jobs more than in 2008, when we were in the midst of economic crises.  These jobs would employ almost half of those who were considered long- term unemployed in October 2011.

By the way, according to some reports, unless we act fast 2012 could turn out to be 2008 Part II.  The timing of the report and the report’s findings beg for policy reform at the federal level: organizing a national movement towards recycling and recycling domestically will help stimulate job growth.  The icing on the cake? As if all this moolah wasn’t good enough, recycling 75% of America’s waste would dramatically reduce carbon emissions. In fact, in the 2030 utopia it would be the equivalent of removing (another drum roll): 50,000,000 cars.

So, the perks of recycling: domestic job growth, improved air quality and – don’t forget – some global r-e-s-p-e-c-t for our forward innovative policy making.

God bless America.

What do Tiger Woods, Brett Favre and Senator John Ensign have in common? They were all scandalized by inappropriate text messages… and pictures.  You may not have anything as salacious saved on your phone, but just in case you are a celebrity- disaster- waiting- to- happen or a James Bond type looking to update your e- gadgets, YouRenew has the tools to make sure the information on your electronics remains private.

As a reminder, no matter what you want to recycle, visit YouRenew’s SecureDataWipe to protect your information.  To read more on why this is so important, refresh your memory by re- reading a past YouRenew blogpost.

Before recycling your phone, laptop or tablet always be sure to do a thorough cleanup of the information stored. It may seem obvious to delete sensitive data, but it’s easy to forget.  That’s not always a mistake you want to make.

Forward this blog post to friends who do recycle their electronic products.

Forward this blog post to friends who do not recycle their electronic products responsibly.

Earlier this week, November 15, marked America Recycles Day.  But for many in the world of electronics, recycling is a way to make green rather than go green.  For these villains (and they really are villains, just read on), reducing recycling costs by dumping trash abroad – i.e., not recycling – is protocol.  Meanwhile you, the unsuspecting consumer, trying to do the right thing, may be helping the bad guy.

First some quick facts:

-       E- waste is the fastest growing kind of waste worldwide

-       5% of the trash worldwide is e- waste

-       About 40 million tonnes of e- waste is created every year

-       20% of all e- waste in the United States is exported abroad

-       500- 1000 materials make up a single electronic device; many of which are toxic

-       E- waste is a growing humanitarian disaster

Second, a list of the possible diagnoses a doctor may give a person in close contact with e- waste:

-       Damage to the bones

-       Signs of kidney and lunch cancer

-       Neurological damage

-       Damage to the reproductive system

-       Damage to the endocrine system

-       Disruption of hormones

-       Behavioral problems

-       Stunted development

-       High prospect of death

Watch this chilling report by 60 Minutes on an electronics dump in an impoverished town in China, where exploited works use “literally Medieval” methods to dismantle lead-laced electronics at a rate of $8/ day.  To make matters worse, guess where most of these abandoned electronics come from? Home sweet home: the U.S.A.

An e-waste ‘residence’ in Delhi.  Do not try this at home.  Actually, avoid making this your or anyone else’s home altogether.  Photo is courtesy of Greenpeace India.

American citizens, including many who may choose to recycle, are contributing to the mess.  Their electronic devices end up in the hands of those looking to turn a profit, by sending products to be handled and dismantled abroad where labor costs are inhumanely low and human costs are vicious, even deadly. The Chinese town investigated, a “Chernobyl of electronic waste”, is so polluted by rotting electronics.  No one can drink the water without risking horrific side- effects including death.  Even the air is poisonous. Upon entering the heart of the community, an electronic graveyard, the 60 Minutes reporter chokes painfully, struggling to breathe.

PBS Frontline filed a similar story from Ghana and, in the process, uncovered some major destinations for America’s e-waste: mostly in the developing world. (Greenpeace also has an eyeopening interactive map here.)   According to United Nations Special Rapporteur Okechukwu Ibeanu,

“E- waste is one of the most hazardous waste streams worldwide.  Electronics contain over 50 hazardous chemicals or heavy metals that can cause serious health and environmental risks if not disposed in an environmentally safe manner.”

As both stories highlight, even when you recycle, it is important to ensure the vendor is certified: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved companies with an R2 or e-Stewards license. One examples of this is WeRecycle!, an e-Stewards member and YouRenew’s recycler of choice.  Be warned: non-certified groups who claim to recycle may be exporting your toxic junk.

The good news is that people are taking notice.  NGOs, like the Electronics Take Back Coalition, are raising awareness of this modern global threat.  A growing culture of social corporate responsibility is inspiring private industry to get the proper certificates.  Greenpeace has developed a scale to rank electronics companies on their policies regarding the use of poisonous chemicals, recycling, and climate change – Microsoft and Nintendo users, prepare yourselves for disappointment.  Friends of Nokia and Sony Ericsson – congratulations!

Having shiny new things is exciting.  When that shiny new thing is an outdated gadget, make the choice to recycle responsibly.  Recycling through YouRenew?  That gets you paid to do good.  Deterring the formation of deathly e-waste dumps?  That’s a priceless bonus.

Although Exxon surged ahead at the end of trading to maintain its status as Heavyweight Champion of the S&P 500, Apple has achieved an enormous feat that many analysts thought wouldn’t happen for several months. It is particularly impressive given that Apple is operating in an industry that is highly competitive and dynamic. It has been an exceptionally innovative company that has been able to diversify its products without losing quality or focus.

It is great to hear that the technology industry is having such great growth, but with increasing dissemination of devices there is an increasing need for proper disposal solutions, so we will keep working to make sure that there is an easy and efficient way to handle the old devices.

How well the company either holds its value or grows is yet to be seen, but I know that I still loving using my Apple products: after I write this post on my Macbook, I’m going to download a few new songs off of iTunes and go for a run with my iPod.

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