Consumers can now receive cash or credits for recycling their unwanted gadgets, including mobile phones, MP3 players and other consumer electronics using new automated ecoATM eCycling stations.
The award-winning eCycling booth is found at various locations across California, USA, and was demonstrated earlier this month at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at Las Vegas.
Drop your phone into the EcoATM, and the machine will pay you what it believes the handset is worth. The cupboard-sized machine has a large touch screen and a big metal “mouth” where you can place your old phone or MP3 player. It takes pictures of the device to figure out what kind of shape it’s in.
Then, you choose one of the machine’s many cables to connect your device. The machine will figure out if the device’s internals are working.When its analysis is complete, it gives you a quote on the spot, based on what a network of hundreds of electronics-recycling companies are willing to pay for it. If you accept, it spits out cash.
In a demonstration by EcoATM founder Bill Bowles, it said a Verizon iPhone 4 was worth $221. An older phone might not be worth reselling, but the machine will take it anyway, and give you a dollar.
The company will melt down the phone in an environmentally friendly fashion to extract the precious metals from it.
THE UPSHOT: A fast and lucrative way to deal with old electronics. Get instantly paid for doing the right thing. What better incentive to recycle responsibly?
AVAILABILITY: There are about fifty of them deployed right now, mostly in grocery stores and malls in California. The San Diego-based company behind the machine says it plans to have about 500 out at the end of this year, spreading eastward.
