We have just launched the youchange Earth Day Challenge! Through this challenge we aim to contest the problems of electronic waste in Arizona while providing a simple and free fundraising solution for its schools. Not only are we raising money for local schools but we are also providing a service to participants by helping them clear out their drawers, closets, and garages of electronics that have been collecting dust over the years.

Lets face it, every year American’s spend billions of dollars ditching their electronic gadgets for the newest, latest, and greatest replacements of them. In most cases their old electronics still function perfectly fine and get put away somewhere “just in case” they need it. What some people don’t realize is that these gadgets still hold some value. Youchange is the answer to this problem. We help provide new life to our electronics and keep them polluting global dumping grounds.

"We all have obsolete electronic items collecting dust but what we don't know is that many of those items still have some value. Youchange's business is built on empowering students to change the world and solve the problems of electronic waste through school fundraising programs and launching this challenge for our local area just makes sense," said Derrick Mains EVP of youchange. "With more than 100,000 schools across the nation suffering with serious budget cuts we plan to expand this opportunity to other regions in the coming months.".

The Earth Day Challenge is an electronics collection competition providing the opportunity for one school to win a cash prize of $2,500! It is open to all Maricopa County schools from now until Earth Day on April 22nd. Only the first 30 schools to sign up for our two-week collection program will quality for the $2,500 grand prize. The school that collects the most items per student will receive this grand prize. Because the contest looks at the number of items collected per student it allows schools of all size compete. Only the school with the highest student to items collected ratio will win the $2,500.

The winning school will be announced on May 15th, 2012 and presented with a $2,500 check in addition to the cash they raised through their collection event.

"We have seen schools make between $300 and $5,000 after completing our two week collection drives. Now adding in the chance to win an additional $2,500 prize for their efforts is a win for them and a win for the environment and the school!" said Dan Fogel VP of Operations for youchange.

Regardless, all schools will be paid for all functional computers, cell phones, tablets, e-readers, video game consoles, media players, digital cameras, and digital camcorders that are collected. All non-functional items will be responsibly recycled. Credit to the simplicity of our program, it can be driven by students, parent teacher organizations, or by teachers. In addition, we emphasize with schools the importance of educating their students about electronic waste and promoting their collection event.

For more details or to sign up for the challenge contact Dan Fogel via:

• email at dfogel@youchange.com
• or call 480 947 3588.

“It starts with you...and ends in change”

youchange takes pride in demonstrating our core values and we never neglect an opportunity to learn and improve upon what we are doing. We also make sure to adopt creativity and innovation and look to reward execution when we come across organizations making a positive impact on the environment (P.S. Check out our Core Values video here!). Through our partnership with Keep Arizona Beautiful we are able to spotlight two organizations in two different parts of the country making a positive impact. These are outstanding examples of locally driven organizations helping members of their community, something youchange strives to do as well.

SCARCE, located in Chicago, IL is devoted to inspiring people, through education, to preserve and care for the Earth’s natural resources, while working to build sustainable communities. Examples of their involvement include their book rescue or Tools for Schools program, as well as a cell phone rescue program that aims to keep used cell phones out of landfills. Their programs with schools allow for the reuse of textbooks and other school supplies that may normally end up in the trash. SCARCE also provides environmental education programs and workshops on a variety of topics that teach students and others alike how to become better environmental stewards. youchange will be teaching its first series of educational classes on electronic waste this October and our program draws on some of the same principles that SCARCE uses. SCARCE also offers certification programs for schools, businesses, and community members who actively play a role in increasing the education and awareness of environmental sustainability.

Another group encouraging reuse is SCRAP. This San Francisco based organization aims to stimulate creativity and environmental awareness in children and adults through promoting the creative reuse of materials that traditionally have been discarded as waste. SCRAP has been helping students and Bay Area residents alike since the mid-seventies by bringing new life into reusable materials. They embody their concept of creative reuse and it is a crucial aspect we all could adopt and learn to value. SCRAP diverts over 200 tons of materials from the landfill each year and has become a prominent place in the community to find reusable materials for educational programs or creative projects. SCRAP also hosts creative reuse workshops, field trips, and outreach activities as well as free monthly teacher give-aways to San Francisco teachers. Although the current youchange focus centers on recycling of electronic waste, it was founded on the premise of reuse and recycling of other products and keeping them out of the waste stream. As youchange grows so will the breadth of other environmental issues we are involved with as well.

youchange is thrilled to feature two organizations that are making such positive differences in their communities. These are the models that we make every effort to follow. When you join the youchange community it is our hope that you will not only recycle your old electronics but also learn about the importance of doing so. You can also reward yourself with reusable items from our Shop Green store after earning some extra cash and reward points when you turn in your functioning electronics! We look forward to seeing you become a part of the youchange community!

“It starts with you...and ends in change”

If you’ve been keeping up with the blogs you have noticed the involvement youchange has been having with schools around the Valley as we implement our Green Leaders and Ambassadors Program. Gililland Middle School is implementing the program and we are very excited to help educate their students on the issue of electronic waste.

Gililland has done a great job with their proactive approach to sustainability education. Claudia Becho teaches the only sustainability-focused class amongst middle schools in the Tempe Schools District at Gililland Middle School. The elective class is very popular too, as she teaches six periods with classes full of 25-30 young students. With the help of youchange, Gililland students will learn about the issues regarding electronic waste and what they can do to help eliminate it. youchange will teach a fun and informative lecture about e-waste complete with videos and displays to help engage the students on the subject.

Gililland will also be hosting an electronics collection drive that will culminate on America Recycles Day, November 15, 2011. Students will have the chance to compete against other classes to see who can collect the most electronics. The youchange Green Leaders at Gilliland will help Ms. Becho total the points for the electronics each class collects, and help coordinate and encourage their peers to bring in electronics. Students who participate will receive a youchange bracelet, the teacher of the top three classes will receive a youchange t-shirt, and the winning class will win a pizza party. While this is a great way to educate students and help raise awareness about e-waste it is also important to remember that all of the electronics collected will be diverted from the landfill and some may even have second lives as refurbished products.

Youchange is very excited about the opportunity to work with young students and help them establish an eco-conscious way of thinking. Our involvement could not be possible without the help of Ms. Becho as well as Gililland Middle School and we look forward to helping them organize a great event and more in the future! If you would like to get your school involved in this great program please contact our Community Outreach Director at info@youchange.com

If you’ve been following the youchange blog you’re well aware of the lack of electronic waste legislation in Arizona as well as around the country. We are happy to share with you that Illinois has become the newest state to revamp their e-waste legislation to keep even more electronics out of the landfill! Our hope is that one day this announcement will pertain to Arizona, but it’s great to see that another state government has taken the necessary initiative to improve their electronic waste management. One step, or state, at a time the environmental impact of e-waste is being lessened and the social movement to eliminate electronic waste continues to grow!

SB 2106 was signed into law on August 10, 2011 by Governor Pat Quinn and nearly doubles Illinois’ annual recycling goal. The new law increases the amount of recyclable products that manufacturers must recycle from four to seventeen. Such products include keyboards and mice, fax machines, video game consoles and VCR’s just to name a few. What happens if the manufacturers choose to ignore the new state law? SB 2106 has created more stringent penalties for non-compliance, increasing fines from $1,000 to $7,000, and requires manufacturers to recycle a larger percentage of products by 2012.

Illinois residents also stand to benefit in three different ways as a result of the new legislation. First, the local environment is being preserved because more and more electronics are being diverted from state landfills. Also, this program is completely free to consumers, unlike some manufacturer based electronics takeback programs. Finally, this program could boost job creation in the midst of a struggling economy, something we wrote about last month. Also, manufacturers are required to provide more educative material to consumers from proper e-waste disposal.

youchange will always seek to keep you informed about occurrences of new e-waste laws around the country or governments that aren’t taking the proper initiative to manage the fastest growing stream of waste in the United States. Regardless of government actions though, it is still up to you to round up those old electronics you have and turn them into youchange! Why not earn some extra cash and help preserve the environment at the same time? So join the youchange community today and become part of the social movement to eliminate electronic waste!

“It starts with you...and ends in change”

youchange is always looking for ways to educate people on the growing social movement to eliminate electronic waste. The recycling movement is gaining steam as Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization, has announced the Recycle Bowl Competition. The mission of the competition is to invigorate student recycling that will lead to establishing new programs within schools, increase recycling rates in schools that already recycle, as well as provide teacher and student educational opportunities about recycling and waste reduction. K-12 schools are eligible to sign up and collect recyclables for the national recycling competition. There are also community, state, and national level prizes awarded to schools based on the recycled material.

The Recycle Bowl Competition is an excellent way to involve students in recycling and touches on what youchange is trying to do with our Green Leaders and Ambassadors program. Unfortunately, the Recycle Bowl Competition does not allow for any electronics to be collected. While it is very important to teach students the benefits of recycling, it is hard to ignore the fastest growing waste stream in the United States.

youchange is looking to change the fact that electronics are not being considered for this competition as we feel that e-waste recycling is a vital educational point for the younger generation.

The EPA offers a variety of Environmental Education Grants and at youchange we think these grants would be a great way to help establish an electronic waste recycling system for schools in Arizona. The grants support environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality. The EPA awards approximately $2-$3 million in grants each year depending on funds appropriated by Congress. Grants like these would aid in the process of getting a program like the youchange Green Leaders and Ambassadors in schools throughout the Valley.

Through our partnership with Keep Arizona Beautiful youchange is looking to collaborate with Keep America Beautiful to include electronic waste in next year’s Reycle Bowl Competition. It is our hope that youchange can provide Keep America Beautiful with the capacity to accept electronic waste and help to contribute to minimizing the e-waste stream. This is simply too large an issue to ignore and it would be doing a disservice to such a great program to not teach young students about the benefits to recycling e-waste. The youchange Green Leaders and Ambassadors program can become a quality platform for this competition and we look forward to exploring involvement in programs like these in the future! youchange has already helped to educate students on recycling with the help of Keep Arizona Beautiful and it is our hope that electronic waste can be added to that curriculum.

“It starts with you...and ends in change”