Cell phones are one of the greatest and worst inventions of the 21st century -- great because they keep us connected 24-7, and awfully horrible because very few of us want to be reached by friends, relatives and colleagues at all hours of the day.

But they're so cool -- all those fun little buttons and infinite apps that take the guesswork out of how to find the best 100% recycled toilet paper -- where would we be without them?

But they're so annoying -- do you know anyone who answers their phone every single time it rings?

Thank God for caller ID and texting -- it's much easier to punch a miniscule keypad and backspace one thousand times in order to fix mistakes rather than actually talk to someone.

Oh wait! They've just come out with the new generation iPhone...time to upgrade even though I've only had my current phone for just one year.

All of this short attention span mumbo jumbo creates a really big problem, namely where do all of the unwanted cell phones go when they die?

Most people don't really give it a second thought, but cell phones contain a toxic blend of lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic which can cause major environmental contamination if they're improperly disposed of in our landfills.

Of the 140 million cell phones being used each year, less than 10% are recycled, resulting in what the EPA estimates to be 65,000 tons of waste containing toxic metals languishing away, contaminating our soil and ground water.

There are online recycling programs such as BuyMyTronics, Gazelle and YourRenew which require that the consumer seek them out, research their model and send their old phone in -- the problem is that too many people feel that it's not worth the effort or hassle so they opt to chuck their unwanted electronics instead.

Out of sight, out of mind.

EcoATM's conveniently located, fully automated reuse-and-recycle machine is vastly different in that it takes the headache out of the recycling process by calculating everything on behalf of the consumer.

Just feed your electronic device (cell phone or, in the near future, everything from MP3 players and digital cameras to computers and printers) into the freestanding machine and it will determine what resale value if any it has.

You have the option of donating the money to a charity, receiving store credit from select retailers, or if it is deemed to lack any monetary value, you can request (at the very least) that the handset be recycled.

No more excuses, no reason to be an eco criminal ever again. Do you think that this system will catch on?