Seth Heine, of EcoATM was kind enough to email me a response with some additional information about the EcoATM:
“EcoATM response:
That is a very cool write up! I have posted an official response below to some of the musings / questions as well (I was once thrown out of the skating rink for trying to boost a Yoo-hoo from the vending machine 
“Thanks to Jason and Cells for Cells for the kind mention – we like what C4C gets done every day as well
For the record, I co-founded ecoATM with some braniacs, – this idea is far larger than any one person could ever build anyways… ecoATM is based on the core concept that the best way to get people to act, or change their behavior is to pay them; so far we seem to be correct, we are collecting hundreds of phones weekly with each ecoATM, and have big plans to roll these kiosks out to leading retailers nationwide in the next few years.
Of course, the minute you put money on the table, you attract the attention of not only everyday consumers, but sneaky types as well; that’s why we visually and electronically inspect the items, so we not only know exactly what it looks like, but also connect it to our systems so we can electronically test the items as well (this also allows us to remove data from the devices on the spot;-). So the fake Wi-Fi plug in the photo (or a fake / demo phone) won’t get far into testing before we figure out something is not as it should be… We also take photographs and get contact info (drivers license etc) from the customers, so we’d likely be sending “visitors” to people who keep trying to trick our machines as well…
We’ll be adding video game, laptop / computer / monitor and other electronics sequentially as we grow, so the ecoATM will become a hub of recycling and trade in / trade up activity in the same places people buy their electronics, bringing it all full circle.”
Additional Reading
Who Else is Making Recycling Easier or Just Flat-out Cool?
