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MARK BOWLES introduces a new e-recycling solution that makes gadgets last longer and protects drinking water.

Each year, 75,000 tons of phones pile up in landfills. The toxic materials they’re made of can seep into the soil and contaminate drinking water. EcoATM aims to avoid this by keeping these perfectly functioning phones in use.

Our automated stations resemble ATMs, but they don’t accept debit cards. The kiosks buy back old cell phones and serve as free battery-recycling receptacles. Consumers follow instructions on the station’s touch screen and insert their used phones. The kiosk inspects the phone, assigns secondary market value, and pays the consumer in the form of a gift card or charitable contribution receipt. Then we sell the reusable phones in secondary markets, making the program profitable. In the future we plan to accept video games, digital cameras, MP3 players, laptops, and desktop PCs.

We installed the first eCycling station last September at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. Two more opened in 2009, with 10 more in the works for a 2010 debut in San Diego area stores and other U.S. cities. With ecoATM, we hope to dramatically alter the current life-cycle of consumer electronics. 

Mark Bowles is the founder and chief marketing officer of San Diego–based ecoATM.