Photos: Gadgets go green at Greener Gadgets

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 130 million phones are replaced every year, but only 20 percent are recycled. Many metals, such as gold, can be retrieved and the plastic recycled.

Cell phone recycler ReCellular collected 6 million phones last year, which amounts to 1 million pounds of phones, chargers, batteries, and shipping materials diverted from landfills.

The company doesn't make money on the recycling part. However, it refurbishes and resells about 60 percent of the phones that it collects and sells them to retailers of prepaid phones or cell phone vendors outside the United States, according to company Vice President Mike Newman.

Often, cell phone carriers provide plastic bags with free shipping to return old cell phones. Nokia has them as well. But often, salespeople in retail locations are not aware of recycling programs and are more concerned with upselling when consumers are choosing a phone in the store.