Sure, you can go to Gazelle.com and get cash for your old electronics, but some folks want instant gratification. For instance, the kind of people that use their local Redbox instead of queuing up a DVD on Netflix.

Enter ecoATM, a startup that makes the automated “eCycling” system of the same name. Since it’s in just 23 locations so far — most of them clustered in Southern California — chances are that the closest one is still a little too far for most people. Luckily, GeekBeat.tv‘s Cali Lewis took the ecoATM for a spin using a shattered iPhone 3GS to show how surprisingly valuable your old gadgets still are.

As you can see in the video below, the process takes a few minutes and is a little more involved than most automated transactions (device diagnostics, drivers license and thumbprint scans), but the results speak for themselves. In this example Cali walks away with $76, minus the $8 she (virtually) gifted to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the many charities you can choose.

Yay for the added dose of good karma! In addition to reducing e-waste, that is.

Check out the ecoATM in action below. Hopefully the company’s “big plans to expand” means that one show up in your (and my) neck of the woods soon.

Screencap: GeekBeat.tv