Five-year-old ecoATM’s kiosks use technology to identify the recycled item (like your basically new iPhone), quantify its condition and worth, and offer you compensation in cash or coupons. The company has about 300 kiosks across 20 states as of now, spokeswoman Anita Giani tells me, which is up from the 50 kiosks they had installed about a year ago.

That’s steady growth, though a bit slower ramp up than they had expected a few years ago. But Giani says that ecoATM is looking to install hundreds of kiosks more this year, and has also expanded the types of devices it can accept to recently to include tablets.

ecoATM’s kiosks also have wireless connections, and the boxes use software from startup Axeda to run diagnostics and do remote management. The company can do remote software refreshes on its kiosks, and it can also fix any problems with the kiosks without having to send a technician in person out to each kiosk.

This debt round is separate from the company’s previous equity rounds. Before that Series B, ecoATM had also raised $14.4 million Series A round in early 2011. The company has a set of strategic backers that could be a strong asset to get its kiosks into more stores, including change kiosk giant Coinstar, Oakland venture firm Claremont Creek Ventures, Tao Ventures, and Singapore billionaire Koh Boon Hwee.

I’ve been watching the company’s site for a few years, and it’s now added a lot more information about the technology and methods they are using to combat theft. The problem with the kiosks is that if someone steals a new iPhone, and takes it to the kiosk, it could provide an easy way to get cash for the stolen device. After a friend’s phone was stolen recently in San Francisco, the police actually told her to go down to check an area that had recycling options, as it wasn’t uncommon for phones to end up there.

ecoATM says to fight theft, they have established methods like: requiring a drivers license to recycle goods, the recycler has to be 18 or over, the recycler gives a thumbprint, the devices are kept for 14 days as a precaution, the kiosks use remote cameras to take photos of and monitor the recycler, and serial numbers are kept of the devices to check against reported stolen goods.

This story was updated at 9:308AM to confirm that ecoATM’s debt round was separate from its former equity rounds.

This story was updated at 2:56PM to add that the $40 million in debt funding came from private equity firm Falcon Investment Advisors.

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The San Diego startup puts kiosks in shopping malls and other retail spaces — particularly in locations near stores selling consumer electronics — that dispense cash, gift cards or coupons for mobile gadgets. The company has lined up buyers who promise to pay for the gadgets it collects, so when a consumer uses the kiosk to sell her phone, ecoATM can search for the best price from among its network of buyers and pass on part of that revenue to the consumer.

The company raised $14.4 million only over a year ago, and investors from that round, including Claremont Creek Ventures and Coinstar, also put money into the new round. New investors include PI Holdings, Moore Venture Partners and Koh Boon Hwee, who ecoATM describes as a “Singapore billionaire” (he was former chairman of Singapore Airlines and Singapore Telecom and worked at Hewlett-Packard).

EcoATM already has kiosks operating in about 50 locations in California and a smattering more in other states such as Kansas, Nebraska and Washington, according to the company’s website. The one at the Nebraska Furniture Mart was the company’s first installation and put in service in the fall of 2009. The company used to have a more ambitious plan of installing 200 kiosks by the end of 2010.

The new funding will enable the company to carry out a broader, national rollout, said ecoATM’s CEO, Tom Tullie, in a statement.

E-waste recycling isn’t a new idea, but making it convenient could help it become a habit. Even though people know recycling is a good thing, they may not go out of their way to hunt for recycling centers and drive there or ship their gadgets. Some recycling centers take old gadgets but don’t pay for them. So getting money or other goodies in return could be an attractive incentive.

The Consumers Electronics Association estimated back in 2008 that each American household owned 24 electronic devices. The head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, has called on electronic companies to think about how their gadgets could be recycled while they are designing products. In 2005, the U.S. generated 2 million tons of e-waste and only about 350,000 tons of them were recycled, the EPA said. The rest just ended up in landfills here and abroad.

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Coinstar, which runs businesses around kiosks that count coins and kiosks that rent DVDs (Redbox), backed ecoATM back in August 2010, and ecoATM raised its first round of financing from Tao Venture partners back in February 2010.

Cash for high-tech trash. That’s the basic concept for the recycling kiosk from ecoATM. You drop off old electronics at one of these machines; it calculates their value, then pays you on the spot, in cash or coupons. The company says its secret sauce is the kiosks’ ability to automatically estimate — using electronic and visual techniques — a price of the unwanted items that will give consumers an immediate financial incentive to recycle at the station.

As of the middle of last year, the three-year old company had built a network of 50 buyers around the globe that take the used consumer electronics devices ecoATM collects from its kiosks (from mobile phones to iPods to MP3 players to game cartridges) and recycles the components. ecoATM says it finds the best price for the devices, then passes a portion of that revenue onto its customers.

ecoATM aimed to deploy 200 kiosks across the U.S. by the end of 2010, mostly in electronics retailers, but I’m not sure of its latest figures. Typically, customers receive coupons for buying products in the store where the kiosk resides, and ecoATM then reimburses the store for the value of the exchange.

Incentivizing consumers to recycle gadgets and cell phones has been incredibly difficult. The EPA says that in 2005, the U.S. generated 2 million tons of e-waste and only about 350,000 tons of it was recycled. The remaining bulk ends up in landfills.

All that valuable waste has led to a flurry of activity in the recycling market, with a half-dozen startups launching web sites like SecondRotation, which help consumers find homes for their used goods (here’s a list of five such sites). The high-profile green VCs at  Kleiner Perkins backed RecycleBank, which partners with cities to provide incentives for residential recycling.

ecoATM’s founder and former CEO Mark Bowles (now CMO) told me last year that he thought the website-as-recycling-center model doesn’t work. Most people don’t want to go through the hassle of labeling and shipping their used items and finding prospective buyers. ecoATM, he said, is all about convenience.

This morning, ecoATM says its kiosks in trial locations have collected “tens of thousands of devices” over the past year and paid out “hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for recycling.” In addition to the announcement about funding, ecoATM said this morning it has been awarded a Phase 1 grant by the National Science Foundation and the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company its first patent on the ecoATM system.

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Cash for high-tech trash. That’s the basic concept for the recycling kiosk from ecoATM. You drop off old electronics at one of these machines, it calculates their value, then pays you on the spot, in cash or coupons. The company says its secret sauce is its kiosks’ ability to automatically estimate — using electronic and visual techniques — a price of the unwanted items that will give consumers an immediate financial incentive to recycle at the station.

The two year old company says it has built a network of 50 buyers around the globe that will take used consumer electronics devices that it collects from its kiosks (from mobile phones to iPods to MP3 players to game cartridges) and recycles the components. ecoATM finds the best price for the devices and then passes a portion of that revenue onto its customers.

The company told us earlier this year that it aims to deploy 200 kiosks across the U.S. by the end of the year, mostly in electronics retailers. Typically, customers receive coupons for buying products in the store where the kiosk resides, and ecoATM then reimburses the store for the value of the exchange.

Incentivizing consumers to recycle gadgets and cell phones has been incredibly difficult. The EPA says that in 2005, the U.S. generated 2 million tons of e-waste and only about 350,000 tons of it was recycled. The remaining bulk ends up in landfills.

All that valuable waste has led to a flurry of activity in the recycling market, with a half dozen startups launching web sites like SecondRotation that help consumers find homes for their used goods (here’s a list of five such sites). The high profile green VCs at  Kleiner Perkins-backed RecycleBank, which partners with cities to provide incentives for residential recycling.

ecoATM’s CEO Mark Bowles told us earlier this year that he thought the web site-as-recycling-center model doesn’t work. Most people don’t want to go through the hassle of labeling and shipping their used items and finding prospective buyers. ecoATM, he says, is all about convenience.

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1). People Power: Wireless energy management startup People Power just released its software developer’s kit called SuRF (Sensor Ultra Radio Frequency) which is based on the open source platform OSHAN (Open Source Home Area Network). When open source meets home energy management, the potential is massive. The company plans to reveal new details about its strategy, plans and products.

2). Vecarius: Vecarius is using power electronics, energy harvesting, energy storage and advanced materials to increase the energy efficiency of vehicles. As co-founder William Sanchez explained to us recently, at the end of the day vehicle energy efficiency can be boosted through chips, software and computing. Vecarius says its patent-pending technology can “recapture a large portion of the 75 percent of energy lost in internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicles.”

3). ecoATM: Cash for high-tech trash. That’s the basic concept for the recycling kiosk — or “Automated eCycling Stations” from startup ecoATM. You drop off old electronics at one of these machines, it calculates their value, then pays you on the spot, in cash or coupons.

4). Building Solutions: Building Solutions has developed software called “Home Performance Pro,” which is an easy-to-use, detailed and accurate home testing software, “built by energy auditors for energy auditors.” The stimulus package has allocated billions of dollars for “weatherization,” which is basically making buildings more energy efficient through things like upgrading insulation, heating and cooling systems, air filters and windows. The first step to knowing if a home needs these things is an audit.

5). GE: O.K. so conglomerate General Electric isn’t exactly a startup, but the company plans to announce an innovative new product for energy efficient backup power. We’ll hold the details for the launchpad event.

6). energics: If you thought the Smart Grid just arrived, get ready for Smart Grid 3.0 says the team at energics. The company has developed software that can develop patterns to dynamically drive process models, build context and relevance, and progressively “learn” and automate smart grid systems. If there’s something the smart grid sorely needs it’s automation deep within the network of the grid (see New Opportunities in the Smart Grid, on GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

7). ecoVouch: ecoVouch is a free web-based application for the iPhone that helps users find eco-friendly products and services close by. The folks behind ecoVouch plan to launch their platform that enables sustainable businesses to communicate effectively to participants through display ads, vouchers or a loyalty program, in a new and social way.

8). Soneter: “Know your flow.” That’s the motto behind Soneter’s meter technology that modifies water consumption behavior in the multifamily housing sector. The company’s product, which doesn’t require a retrofit or pipe cutting, tracks individual unit water use in real time and automatically bills them based on consumption.

9). Carbon Voyage: Carbon Voyage’s web site enables users to compare travel options based on both cost and environmental impact. The service will find opportunities to fill empty journeys (taxis), share trips and help customers move onto low carbon transport alternatives. Right now the London-based team is focused on the U.K., but has plans to expand into other markets.

10). ecoDomus: ecoDomus’ software and services provide intelligent analysis of a building’s performance, including helping with LEED compliance, and leading to better maintenance practices that result in significant energy savings. ecoDomus’ product integrates a Building Information Model, a 3D representation of a facility, and real-time facility operations data acquired via sensors.

ecoATM’s secret sauce is its kiosks’ ability to automatically estimate — using electronic and visual techniques — a price of the unwanted items that will give consumers an “immediate financial incentive” to recycle at the station, Mark Bowles, ecoATM’s chief marketing officer, told us today. The company has built a network of 50 buyers around the globe that will take used consumer electronics devices that ecoATM collects from its kiosks (currently just mobile phones but soon expanding to iPods, MP3 players and game cartridges) and recycle the components. ecoATM finds the best price for the devices and then passes a portion of that revenue onto its customers.

So far the company has placed five kiosks, and it aims to deploy 200 across the U.S. by the end of the year, mostly in electronics retailers. Typically, customers receive coupons for buying products in the store where the kiosk resides, and ecoATM then reimburses the store for the value of the exchange. But the coupon model encourages more spending, which contributes to more waste. That might be part of the reason Bowles said ecoATM is also experimenting with paying customers in cash.

ecoATM has certainly hit upon a market ripe for innovation. The EPA says that in 2005 the U.S. generated 2 million tons of e-waste and only about 350,000 tons of it was recycled. The remaining bulk ends up in landfills. All that valuable waste has led to a flurry of activity in the recycling market, much of it so far revolving around web sites like SecondRotation that help consumers find homes for their used goods (here’s a list of five such sites).  In another example, Kleiner Perkins-backed RecycleBank partners with cities to provide incentives for residential recycling.

But Bowles says the web site-as-recycling-center model doesn’t work. Most people don’t want to go through the hassle of labeling and shipping their used items and finding prospective buyers. ecoATM, he says, is all about convenience.

Chrome OS is a browser for web apps. There won’t be any application installs within the operating system. Android, on the other hand, offers apps and the web. It’s geared for a smaller screen with touch. While Chrome OS will run on x86 devices, it will also support ARM-powered units. Now Acer hasn’t announced what hardware platform its Chrome OS netbook will run on, but when it says “netbook,” I immediately think of x86, which might be overkill for nothing but a browser. My hope is that by “netbook,” Acer means an ARM-powered smartbook in a clamshell form-factor with a touch-type keyboard. If instead, it means a traditional x86 netbook costing around $300, it’s going to be a tough sell when the same money buys you both a browser and application experience, no?

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