Phone Recycling Near Me: Trade-In, Sell, or Recycle Options [2026]

The most accessible phone recycling locations are retail stores you probably already visit. Here are your nearest options:

Best Buy accepts up to 3 electronics per household per day for free recycling at all U.S. locations. Walk in, drop off your old phone at the recycling bin near the entrance, and walk out. No purchase required. They accept phones in any condition — cracked screens, dead batteries, flip phones from 2005.

Staples offers free electronics recycling at all store locations. Like Best Buy, they take phones regardless of condition.

ecoATM operates 7,000+ kiosks inside Walmart, Kroger, and other grocery and retail stores nationwide. Unlike Best Buy and Staples, ecoATM pays you. Insert your phone into the kiosk, let the machine scan and evaluate it, accept or decline the offer, and walk out with cash. The process takes about 5 minutes.

eWaste recycling centers exist in most metro areas. Search your city or county name plus "e-waste drop-off" to find municipal facilities that accept phones for free.

Carrier stores (T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T) accept old phones for trade-in credit when you're buying a new device. Some also accept phones for recycling without a purchase.

There are over 150 million old phones sitting unused in American drawers right now. If yours is one of them, any of these locations will take it off your hands — and some will pay you for it.

ecoATM prices vary significantly based on the phone's model, age, and condition. Here's what to expect:

Newer smartphones in good condition (iPhone 13 and later, Samsung Galaxy S21 and later) typically get offers between $50 and $300+. The newer and less damaged the phone, the higher the payout.

Older smartphones (iPhone 8 through iPhone 12, Galaxy S9 through S20) usually get $10 to $80. These phones still have resale value but are several generations behind.

Damaged or very old phones (cracked screens, water damage, phones older than 5 years) get $1 to $10. ecoATM will still buy them because the internal components — gold, silver, palladium, copper — have scrap value.

Flip phones and basic phones get $1 to $3 in most cases.

The kiosk gives you an instant offer. You're not obligated to accept it. If the offer seems low, check Gazelle or Decluttr for comparison — mail-in programs sometimes offer more because they refurbish and resell rather than scrapping.

Pro tip: Before visiting an ecoATM, factory reset your phone and remove your SIM card and any SD cards. The kiosk will wipe the device regardless, but doing it yourself first is a good security practice.

If you're already planning to buy a new phone, trade-in programs almost always pay more than recycling or selling to a kiosk. The trade-off is that you receive store credit rather than cash.

Apple Trade-In offers up to $630 for an iPhone 15 Pro Max in good condition. You can trade in at any Apple Store or online. Apple provides an Apple Store gift card or applies the credit toward a new purchase. Phones that don't qualify for credit are recycled for free through Apple's program.

Samsung Trade-In offers up to $600+ credit toward a new Galaxy device. Trade-ins can be completed online or at Samsung Experience stores. Samsung accepts a wide range of devices, including non-Samsung phones.

Google Store accepts Pixel and other Android phones for trade-in credit toward new Pixel devices. Values vary by model and condition.

T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T frequently run promotional trade-in offers that can reach $800 to $1,000 in bill credits when you trade in an eligible device and activate a new line or upgrade. These carrier promotions are often the highest-value option available, but they come with strings — typically a 24 to 36 month installment agreement.

Key differences between trade-in programs:

• •Apple and Samsung give you credit you can use immediately.
• •Carrier trade-ins spread the value over monthly bill credits, locking you into a contract.
• •All programs require the phone to power on and function. Cracked screens may reduce value significantly.
• •Carrier promos change frequently — check current offers before committing.

Yes. Nearly every recycling option accepts broken phones:

ecoATM buys phones in any condition — cracked screens, water damage, phones that won't turn on. You'll get less money, but you'll still get something ($1 to $10 in most cases).

Best Buy and Staples accept broken phones for free recycling. They don't pay you, but there's no cost either.

Apple Trade-In accepts broken iPhones for free recycling even if they have no trade-in value. Apple's recycling robot, Daisy, can disassemble 200 iPhones per hour and recover 14 raw materials.

Cell Phones for Soldiers and 911 Cell Phone Bank accept broken phones as donations. Even non-working phones have recyclable materials inside.

What you should never do: throw a phone in the regular trash. Phone batteries are lithium-ion, and lithium batteries are a documented fire hazard in garbage trucks and landfills. When crushed or punctured during compaction, they can ignite. Many municipalities have banned electronics from curbside trash collection for this reason.

If you have multiple broken phones, old tablets, or other e-waste piling up, Dropcurb offers curbside e-waste pickup starting at $79. Set everything at the curb and a local hauler handles the rest — including proper recycling and disposal.

It depends on the phone's age, condition, and whether you're buying a new device.

The math on a typical scenario:

An iPhone 13 in good condition might get $150 to $200 from Apple Trade-In, $80 to $150 from ecoATM, or $100 to $180 from Gazelle. But if T-Mobile is running a promo offering $800 off a new iPhone with trade-in, the same phone is suddenly worth $800 in bill credits.

For phones worth less than $20 in trade-in value, free recycling at Best Buy or Staples is the simplest option. The environmental benefit matters more than the few dollars you'd get from a kiosk.

Phones contain recoverable gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Recycling one million phones yields approximately 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver, and 35,274 pounds of copper. Even your old flip phone has value in the recycling stream.