We are all excited to see that the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) launched its 2011 summer program in its new location earlier this week!

YEI is an incubator for entrepreneurs in the Yale student body and helps them overcome some of the challenges they face starting their new ventures. YouRenew was started out of YEI and we owe a debt of gratitude to the organization for all it has done to help us launch and grow. It has done a terrific job of fostering an entrepreneurial environmental in Yale and New Haven, and gave us the opportunity to work alongside smart and innovative entrepreneurs.

We are proud to say that one of the new ventures is being co-founded by former YouRenew employee Chris Murphy. Chris, and co-founder Greg Hausheer, are launching a website called BookSavr.com, which provides a convenient way for college students to save money when buying textbooks and other class materials.

Other notable ventures that have launched out of YEI include Paper G and TutorTrove. Paper G is a technology company that automates local ad creation, sales and management for online publishers. It was started by an incredibly smart group of guys who have proven themselves as true innovators in the online advertising space.

TutorTrove provides a convenient web platform to assist tutors and educators. Their new product, Desmos, is an online community for interactive teaching. With the large variety of hardware and software in classrooms, teachers face increasing difficulty trying to transition course material from one device to another. Desmos is designed to bridge this gap and become a unifying standard for interactive lessons, letting teachers seamlessly present their material via their computer, tablet, whiteboard etc.

This only represents a small sampling of the companies coming out of YEI. I would suggest visiting the site to see some of the new ventures launching this summer.

We wish the best of luck to the YEI entrepreneurs starting their challenging journeys this summer!

Thanks to the dedication of our growing base of customers, we are expanding YouRenew’s footprint and looking for new hires to help us grow our capacity to support the sustainable practices of our customers.

Candidates will have the opportunity to work in an innovative and rapidly changing field, gain experience in electronics handling, and work in an entrepreneurial environment.

The role consists of receiving, testing, and repurposing used electronic devices. Tasks include function testing, data erasing, and cosmetic condition assessing devices, as well as other operations related responsibilities. The position will be based in New Haven, Connecticut.

TO APPLY:

Please submit a resume and cover letter via email to jobs@YouRenew.com.

YouRenew.com believes the highest form of recycling is reuse. It would seem a Japanese artist, Yuma Fujimaki, is of the same philosophy. Mr. Fujimaki has found an original solution to the growing problem of what to do with end of life electronics by starting a business in which he uses old electronics to craft jewelry. The eclectic pieces use every part of old electronic motherboards and peripherals to create some striking pieces of art. He has made rings, necklaces, brooches, and pendants – all out of what would otherwise become e-waste.

Its refreshing to see individuals around the globe attempting to find ways to reduce the millions of tons of used electronics that end up in landfills every year. Please keep in mind before you smash your old iPod to make some new cuff links: Mr. Fujimaki’s venture is relevant only for electronics that no longer work. For those devices that still have life, we unabashedly recommend that You Renew them!

Recently, there was quite a buzz in the UK over a study that showed a high percentage of cell phones and SIM cards acquired on the second-hand market still containing personal data from their previous owners. A company called the CPP Group went on eBay and to various used electronics shops and purchased 35 cell phones and 50 SIM cards. After poking around their new toys using well-known methods and tools, they found that over 50% of the devices still contained personal data from their previous owners; 247 pieces of information in total. This information included passwords, phones numbers, bank account details, PIN numbers, and logins to various social networking sites.

As alarming as their findings are, we here at YouRenew can’t say that we’re surprised. We process devices every day where customers have forgotten to erase phone numbers, music, text messages, and… interesting… photos. Because of all this, we chose in the very beginning to take security seriously. If you choose to recycle your devices with us, we will guarantee you a few things:

• Every single device that is processed in our facilities is wiped of all data and reset to the factory settings using manufacturer-provided processes and tools. We do this regardless of whether or not you’ve wiped the device yourself before sending it to us. This includes any extra memory cards you’ve included with the device.
• Any device we process that we cannot wipe ourselves is not resold. It is instead shredded down to its component materials by our recycling partners. We won’t risk your data getting into the hands of others.
• No device leaves our facility with a SIM card. Any prospective buyer will either already have their own, or will receive one from whichever carrier they’re dealing with.

Even if you choose not to recycle your devices with us, we strongly urge you to take precautions before passing the devices on to others:

• Never give your SIM card away. If you don’t plan on using it in your next cell phone, then destroy it. They’re fairly flimsy so you shouldn’t have much trouble doing so. Make sure you cut it up, taking care to split up the shiny gold section into several pieces.
• Wipe the data from the device itself thoroughly. If you’re unsure how, consult the device’s instruction manual (if you still have it), or check out the growing library of instructions on SecureDataWipe.com.
• Don’t forget to care for any removable memory cards you use with your device. You should either hang on to them for use in your next gadget, or make sure any files on them are removed.

The YouRenew team will always encourage you to recycle your devices instead of dumping them in a landfill, but we urge you to do so responsibly. Remember to safeguard your private information while you’re helping the environment.

We have recently celebrated the two year anniversary of launching our YouRenew.com website.

In recognizing this milestone, we thought it would be cool to put together some metrics and real world examples that show how renewing all your old gadgets has made a positive environmental impact over these past two years.

We have reused or recycled enough devices to:

• Create energy savings that could power 236 US homes for a year
• Create air emission reductions that would equal taking 554 passenger vehicles off the road for a year
• Offset the hazardous waste that 223 US families produce over the course of a year
• Offset the daily municipal solid waste created by 6,963 Americans

Another great example of how little things, like renewing old gadgets, can make a huge impact on our environment!

(Statistics gathered from US Department of Energy, the EPA in conjunction with the US Department of Transportation, the EPA, and the Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator made for the EPA by Abt Associates, Dillon Environmental Associates, and the University of Tennessee)