We (Space Monkey) intend to make the device usable on its own, without the Space Monkey service, for people who purchase the device and don't want to continue the service. It's unclear as yet how close we'll be able to get it to a turnkey NAS solution, but at least it'll have Linux installed and you'll be able to SSH to it, use the drive, install whatever software you need, etc.
Whenever I don't need something, I actually do pack the item back up and drive down to the UPS store and ship the product back to the company. It is a waste of resources and rare metals and stuff like that. Everything should be recycled.
If I leased some security technology, I wouldn't mind getting a used one if it were cleaned and worked well.