The phones (etc.) are shipped to Ecophones.
They are transported to their warehouse in Texas where the following is done:
(from the Ecophones web site) ...More than 80% of all the electronics we receive are reusable and are therefore tested, reconditioned and sold within the United States. The revenue generated from the resale of used consumer electronics helps pay for our warehouse rent, our repair technicians and our ability to pay schools, churches and businesses for an ever increasing number and variety of used and eventually hazardous consumer electronics. We do not receive any State or Federal aid.
The remaining 20% are de-manufactured in the state of Texas. Just as is the case with jewelry, consumer electronics contain more than 17 scarce and other non-ferrous metals - all of which are recoverable and more importantly reusable including silver, gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, indium, selenium, tellurium, antimony, tin, bismuth, arsenic and base metals such as lead, copper, nickel.
We do not export e-waste, we do not dump e-waste in landfills and we do not utilize prison labor. Our metals refinery partner is a Basel Action Network (BAN) e-Steward located nearby in Texas and is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified. Metals are sent to an EPA registered refinery within the United States where they are melted down to be reused to create new electronics, pieces of jewelry and other consumer products. Recycling metals reduces the need for metals excavation, the #1 cause of toxic pollution in the United States.
For more information go to http://www.ecophones.org/