EcoATM announces 7.5 million devices collected in 2025

San Diego-based ecoATM, an independent recycler of smartphones, collected 7.5 million electronic devices to be reused or recycled in 2025.

The devices are collected through ecoATM kiosks which can be found in more than 7,000 stores across the U.S., including Walmart, Kroger and Dollar General. The company also launched 13 kiosks in Canada in September 2025. 

EcoATM pays consumers to recycle their devices. After a device is validated through a kiosk, consumers receive a cash payment directly from the kiosk. Consumers can also opt for digital payment through Venmo or PayPal. 

Melissa Ziegler, vice president of marketing at ecoATM, says consumers plug a device into the kiosk, which then takes photos of the device to validate its condition. The kiosks’ technology also reads the device’s international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), which Ziegler says is a phone’s unique serial number.  

The IMEI is run through a lost and stolen devices database to ensure that the phone in the kiosk is the consumer’s property to sell. The kiosk also takes a photo of the consumer’s ID and a photo of the consumer to make sure they match. 

“We actually have real, live humans that sit in two different offices, working across multiple different time zones, that are validating those pictures ... actually matching the selfie of the person that’s at the kiosk,” Ziegler says.  

Following validation, the consumer receives an offer for the device they placed in the kiosk. Most devices typically receive a payment of $100-300, she says, but depending on the device and its condition, the offer could be up to $550. 

“Every phone we buy is refurbished, resold or recycled. By promoting recommerce and encouraging reuse, we’re able to reduce the demand for new electronics that drive further emissions from manufacturing,” ecoATM stated in its 2024 ESG report. “Beyond the operational footprint, the mining of heavy metals such as gold and cobalt in our smartphones can be toxic to humans and the planet.” 

Ziegler says the company hopes that people will avoid sending devices to landfill and recoup value from their devices. Last year, ecoATM launched a recycle only flow for consumers who don’t care about receiving payment.  

“If you think your device is way too old or too cracked or too damaged to get paid for, you can now hit a recycle only button directly on the kiosk and just drop it off in less than two minutes,” she says. 

Pricing offers are updated on a weekly basis and are based on market conditions for used devices. Ziegler says there's a decent amount of price fluctuation depending on the release of new devices. 

To supply payments, the company works with cash suppliers who stock cash in the kiosks. When the cash is stocked, the phones are taken out of the kiosks, carefully packaged and sent to ecoATM’s processing facility in Louisville, Kentucky.  

Ziegler says the facility checks devices every day and receives about 20,000 devices a day on average. At the facility, the devices are graded and data is wiped from phones that turn on. 

“Then, those devices sit in Louisville for what we call a soak period of 30 days,” she says. “That’s just to make sure that no customers have changed their mind, or if for some reason an unauthorized seller did happen to sell to us ... we will then mail their phone back.” 

After the 30-day period, they decide if the phones are in good enough condition to be refurbished and resold.  

“That kind of starts that circular economy cycle of that phone being resold as a certified, pre-owned device,” she says.  

Phones that can’t be refurbished are sold to ISO certified recycling companies. The companies go through and dissect recourses, including gold, aluminum and cooper, out of the device and process the rest to be responsibly recycled. Ziegler says the company’s main recycling partner is MobilTech Global Services based in Fort Worth, Texas. 

For the devices that are resold, ecoATM has a pre-owned company, Gazelle, where some of the devices are resold. Some devices are sold to other companies that also refurbish and resell them. 

“That’s something that I’m hoping we can start changing ... getting consumers more used to buying refurbished devices and really understanding that they don’t need to have the latest and greatest, and they don’t always need to have it brand new,” Ziegler says.