It starts with you and ends in change

Accept responsibility. This is a concept I live and breathe.

While some may take these words to heart for the first three months of each New Year, I try to live by this concept year-round. It is on this foundation that youchange was built. It is your responsibility, my responsibility, our responsibility to keep our planet healthy and thriving for the generations to come.

Recycling is not a new concept, obviously, but as technology advances, so do our piles of waste. What was once our latest obsession and source for high-speed browsing now collects dust in the garage with our cell phones the size of bricks and our TVs that have been replaced with newer, sleeker models. When the pile grows too large, some may have a garage sale to make room for more gadgets, others may give the electronics to charities.

Then there are those who [gasp] toss these items in the dumpster. Did you know that, according to the EPA, electronic waste (or “e-waste”) is responsible for at least 40 percent of the toxic, heavy metals like mercury, lead and cadmium in U.S. landfills that can leach into our air and water?! Didn’t your mother teach you to clean up your messes? With youchange, cleaning up your messes just got a whole lot easier.

We understand there are myriad other things you’d rather be doing than figuring out how to detoxify your electronics, so now all you have to do is send us your electronics or drop them off at one of our drop-box locations. Not only will you be doing your part in protecting God’s green earth (which I really do appreciate, so I can continue cycling through the beautiful, toxin-free Arizona desert) but your wallet will appreciate it, too. Really. At youchange, we not only take your old electronics off your hands, but we pay you for them! Then we make sure any sensitive information is removed from the gadget, and we refurbish it in our very own warehouse and put it up in our “re-commerce” store for youchange users to purchase with member reward points. It’s really a win-win-win situation.

We are happy you have used our services; you are happy you have a fatter wallet; and the environment is happy that she can breathe a little easier. And all because you accepted responsibility. See? Now, doesn’t that make you feel like you, too, can breathe a little easier? It starts with you … and ends in change.