While buying used cell phones is a great way to help the environment (as is recycling your used cell phones), there is an added element of choosing the cell phone—is it made from sustainable parts? Does the company have good recycling practices and socially responsible policies?

The GoodGuide, which rates all sorts of products and companies based on their social and environmental practices, can now tell you if you've used cell phones that are good for the environment based on a culling of third party reviews, government and private sources.

So have you used cell phones that are awesome?

Nokia is well-rated, but that likely has to do with their being a lower-end smartphone with fewer functions.

Palm ranks well overall with the Palm Pixi, and some companies like Samsung and Motorola have released phones designed to appeal to eco-conscious consumers who'd like to have used cell phones for good.

Most popular phones such as the iPhone and those from Blackberry fall in the middle of the list, although the reasons are not all environmental: Apple has some policies which, I guess, aren't socially awesome.

Whether you've used cell phones that are well ranked or not, buying used cell phones is a way to get the phone you want and feel good about the purchase.

Gigaom has more analysis.