Here's another nice story on tech and goodwill for you. If you've ever had an old phone you didn't need anymore and wanted to do something about it, you could always recycle it.

In the case of Michigan-based ReCellular, you can donate your phones to them and they'll refurbish it to help expand telecommunications in third-world countries. Your phone may just get around the world more than you do, as there's a good chance a cellphone in the hands of someone in Jamaica, Bolivia or Kenya may have been your own.

Not only is the business good money, but it also provides an important service for a lot of people. "The fact that you can combine a business — a profitable business — with a useful service and a charitable good is a win, win, win," says Mike Newman, Vice-President of ReCellular.

Economically, their revenues last year were $40 million, providing their cellphones wholesale for less than $20 per unit to retailers. At the same time, the company has assisted the March of Dimes, an organization devoted to research and education on birth defect prevention, and the Canadian Association of Food Banks, that has been hosting a Phones for Food program since 2003, in setting up their own cellphone collection drives, raising a substantial amount of funding in the process.

All in all, a good kind of business idea that cares, with little wastage and a lot of heart. If you check their website (recellular.net), you will also find a video of their operations, which we've provided here for your benefit. At least you have a good idea now of what to do with your old models, and you can contact them and their affiliates to make a difference.