The Land of Misfit Electronics
Where your electronics go when they become outdated.
By ALEX ZURITA
Updated 7:00 AM EST, Tue, Jun 23, 2009
With the release of the new iPhone 3G S on June 19, thousands of devoted Apple fanatics found themselves shipping their old phones to the land of bygone toys. As technology grows and changes at an exponential rate, electronics of all kinds are constantly being replaced by bigger, better and faster versions.
A local web start up, YouRenew.com, is trying to take those misfit gadgets off your hands by offering cash for old gadgets. Two Yale students, Rich Littlehale, 22, and Bob Casey, 21, founded YouRenew.com back in March and, ever since, the company has been growing.
The company's primary goal, according to a press release, is to find a second home for working electronics and properly recycle them if the gadgets have seen better days.
The Electronics TakeBack Coalition reported that more than 300 million cell phones, computer products and televisions were thrown out in 2007, based on an EPA report. Most of them could have and should have been recycled due to unsafe materials in them.
When the new iPhone was released, the company went down to New York City and stood outside Apple's flagship store, trying to entice people buying the new phone to recycle their old one for cash on the spot. YouRenew gave out thousands of dollars to more than 100 customers on the street looking to upgrade, according to Alysa Perry, the company's director of marketing.
YouRenew buys back more than 3,000 devices and provides prepaid shipping boxes to customers. Even if your gadget isn’t worth a penny, they will still take it and pay for it to get there.
So if you've got a box full of old phones, computer equipment, or anything electronic, take a second to see if it's worth anything. We all could use the extra cash these days, and you’d be saving the environment, which is, like, a plus.
First Published: Jun 22, 2009 3:42 PM EST
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