SAN DIEGO, CA–(PR Newswire, Dec 12, 2014) – ecoATM, the nationwide network of automated electronics recycling kiosks, today unveiled its new environmentally friendly office space in Sorrento Valley, California. The building is over 53,000 square feet and was built to meet LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements with a Gold certification expected.
The average American cell phone is upgraded every 18 months, yet less than 20 percent are recycled each year. The rest end up in drawers – or worse, in landfills. ecoATM is changing that wasteful lifecycle with the first and only automated kiosk that buys back used consumer electronics directly from consumers. In San Diego County alone, ecoATM has safely collected nearly 200,000 devices since 2010 – that’s almost three times the seating capacity of Qualcomm Stadium. The company has also paid more than $3 million to residents of San Diego County for their devices through its network of 36 kiosks in the county, which are currently located in Vons and Ralphs locations, malls and a Nexcom Navy Exchange downtown. Nationally, ecoATM has collected three million devices and has 1,510 kiosks.
“ecoATM combats the e-waste problem by making electronics recycling easy for consumers – reuse and recycling is a part of our business and has been in our DNA from the start,” said Maria Stipp, president of ecoATM. “Our patented kiosks, device collection milestones, environmental commitments, and now our new building, are perfect examples of putting our brand values into action. Our planned LEED certification underscores ecoATM’s environmental commitment, which extends beyond recycling electronic devices to everything the company does.”
In addition to the positive environmental impact, ecoATM is also a part of the San Diego innovation economy, employing nearly 300 full-time employees. Through direct and indirect relationships with vendors and partners, such as D&K Engineering, Pitney Bowes and Loomis, ecoATM impacts thousands more individuals.
“We’ve been a part of ecoATM’s history since it was part of the EvoNexus Incubator and we’ve worked in lock step as the company has grown – from raising money, spinning out of the Incubator and its July 2013 acquisition by Outerwall,” said Scott Dennis, CEO at D&K Engineering. “San Diego has a strong and growing technology community; ecoATM and D&K are great examples of where manufacturing and innovation meet to spur local jobs and community relationships.”
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