An Easy New Way to Recycle Your Old Phone

While cell phone recycling is certainly nothing new, a company named EcoATM is rolling out a device that’s making it simpler than ever, and in many cases even pays people for their old phones. An electronic kiosk similar to the machines that turn coins into cash, you can expect to see the EcoATM showing up in retailers near you in the coming months.

Here’s how the eco-friendly system works. You tell the machine what sort of phone you have and drop it in. The EcoATM then photographs the phone to assess its condition, and comes up with a value. If you like the price, you receive the value in store credit for the store where the kiosk is located. Phones with no monetary value can be recycled in exchange for a waterproof cell phone case. As a bonus, the company even plants a tree for every phone recycled.

It’s not all about phones though, as the company expects to the kiosks to be able to accept other gadgets like cameras and MP3 players soon.