I recently wrote an article about recycling your cell phone. I had mentioned that there were places that you could drop off your phone in person and that there are websites that will help you recycle your electronics.

One of these sites is www.YouRenew.com. YouRenew is a great place that will allow you to sell or recycle your electronics in a few easy steps. It also does not take long to complete the process; so with a little bit of time and some unwanted electronics, you could be making the world a better place and making money!

YouRenew was founded in a dorm office when two men, Bob and Rich, realized that they were losing value on their old electronics. They recognized that the rapid progression of technology often resulted in spending hundreds of dollars on items of technology that were soon outdated. From personal experience, I know that I bought the first generation iPod Touch a month before the second generation came out, and I had no idea that it was going to come out! Had I known that I would have paid less money for a better and newer iPod.

When people continue to buy the latest and the greatest, the older item often gets discarded or thrown into a corner–essentially a waste of X amount of dollars. A main cause of this is because there is no easy way to recycle electronics.  Bob and Rich realized this and took action–forming YouRenew.

YouRenew receives thousands of items every month. They are able to resell 70% of these items, and the rest are recycled.

In a recent interview, the Director of Marketing and PR, Alysa Perry, provided us with more insight about YouRenew.com.  Alysa stated, “We are committed to educating people on the importance of electronics recycling. E-waste is the fastest growing stream of trash in the United States and we’ve made it our mission to stop that.”

When you go to retire a piece of electronic equipment, first try to see if there is a place for you to recycle, resell, or reuse it!

Some of these ten year olds are walking around with their parents’ old phones, but there are others who receive brand new phones. Parents could save a lot of money by reusing their phones. Not only this, but throwing away the phone could mean that you are throwing away a phone that potentially could be used by someone else who cannot afford to buy a phone.

Every year Americans discard over 100 million cell phones. That is over 50,000 tons of waste, and the amount of recycled phones is extremely low.  Cell phones are made up of dangerous materials, such as arsenic, zinc and lead. When thrown into landfills, these materials can seep into the groundwater or be incinerated and therefore end up in the air that we breathe. Recycling cell phones will help to preserve the environment.

Many cell phone companies offer contract deals–meaning that, for instance, after two years you can buy a new phone for a certain deal. Getting a new phone every two years is not entirely necessary. Some people end up putting away perfectly good phones! Think about how many people in America are on these 2-year contract plans, and now think about how many phones that is!

While some stores have cell phone drop-off spots, recycling cell phones has not become a common practice. There are even websites that will allow you to sell or donate your old cell phones. One website is GRC Wireless Recycling. They will buy used cell phones from businesses, individuals, and municipal recyclers if you sell them at least 10 phones. You also can simply donate phones, or they will support you in organizing a cell phone fundraiser through a nonprofit organization, a school, or a community group.

So, next time you go to discard your old cell phone, try finding a place to recycle it! Either someone could use it and appreciate it, or someone will discard it in a safe manner!

Here are some examples of green gadgets that people have been coming up with.

One gadget is a solar powered WiFi repeater. Meraki is the company that came up with this solar-powered Wi-Fi repeater that can provide Internet access to people in remote regions. It is energy independent and is easy to set up. It is composed of a mesh radio, a solar panel, and a pole mount. However, though this gadget seems like something that you would want to go out and buy right away, you may want to hear about the price first. A major drawback, this gadget is priced anywhere from $900 to $1500 dollars. Yikes!

Looking to charge your batteries? Have you ever thought about using a solar powered charger to charge your batteries? That is right, you could be anywhere in the world, and you will be able to charge your batteries with this newly developed charger. Created by Energizer, this solar battery recharger is eco-friendly and will allow you to charge both your AA and AAA batteries. Of course, these batteries have to be rechargeable in order for the renewable energy to do any work. The Energizer charger also includes a USM port. This will allow you to charge various amounts of electronic devices, such as mobile phones, GPSs, cameras, and everybody’s favorite toy–the iPod. You can also use the charger like a typical battery charger would be used on a cloudy day or during the night.

Going green has become a huge fad. People have realized this, and they continue to come up with neat little toys and tricks that incorporate this fad with technology. I wonder what other little gadgets will be in existance in a few years from now.

I mean, hey, being “green” is the new thing to do. We also know that technology is constantly morphing and adapting to be the best, the fastest, and the coolest thing out there. So, why not combine both?

Until February 20th, online users can vote for the ten green gadgets that will be shown at the conference on the 27th. There are some really cool green gadgets out there. One that I saw was the coffee printer that uses spent coffee grounds for ink! Yes, that’s right, you can use your own grounds, put them into the printer, and move a level back and forth over a piece of paper to make an image or text.

Of course, not all of the gadgets are fun tools like that. There are many practical items shown on the site. One gadget that has a lot of votes is the Bware Water Meter. This tool easily can be hooked on to a shower or kitchen tap, and then Bware will figure out the amount of water that you are using. This design is made out of recycled ABS, the production costs are minimal, and it draws its power from the water stream. You even can turn using this meter into a game by trying to use less and less water every time!

Another interesting design is Power-Hog. This power consumption metering piggy bank allows kids to learn about how much energy costs in relation to actually running the devices. What happens is that you put coins into the bank, and then the gadget will allow the user to use whatever device it is plugged into for 30 minutes.  In other words, kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or play a video game. An interesting concept for sure.

There are a ton of other cool green gadgets that are vying to make our lives more eco-friendly. Check out the competition.