My interest is peaked as to what your experiment could be...

If you are worried (as I am) about the sustainability of our throw-away phones and where they go when they die, you can recycle them for free at City Hall.  There's a container on the first floor for old phones which are then reused or recycled responsibly rather than being shipped to third-world countries for whatever.

They also recycle CDs and DVDs as well as ink cartridges.

By the way, working used phones will still call 911 even without a phone plan so they still can still be used for emergencies.

Now back the therealdoug's previously scheduled thread.

"If you are worried... you can recycle them for free at City Hall." 

Perhaps you did not notice in my opening post, but what I am asking is to allow me to intercept your iPhone BEFORE you bring it to be recycled.

Also, many of the iPhones I am hoping to find will not function even enough to call 911. Thanks for your comment, but it seems as if it did not "fit" at all with my original post.

Please note that I clearly write that "I will pay for some" ... meaning, if an iPhone has not been run over by a train or laid at the bottom of a lake for a day, it will have usable parts or may even be repairable. That said, I am well aware of the fact that many of these broken iPhones are brought to electronics recyclers, and so I also hoped maybe a few folks might not mind if I intercepted their phone instead. Anyway, thanks to all the kind people who work behind the scenes to offer this website for positive exchanges, and I appreciate having given it a try.