ReCellular processes about 53 percent of the used cell phones resold in the U.S., said Michael Blumberg, president of D.F. Blumberg Associates Inc., a consulting firm in Willow Grove, Pa.

Other major players include RMS Communications Inc. in Ocala, Fla., and PaceButler Corp. in Edmond, Okla.

ReCellular outgrew its home in Ann Arbor in 2003 and moved to an industrial park in nearby Dexter. The village of 1,700 is 40 miles west of Detroit.

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The company has a work force of 250, about 200 of them local, and again finds itself bursting at the seams. Revenues of the privately held company, about $40 million last year, are shooting higher as well, Newman said.

"We're on track to jump 67 percent this year," said Newman, who found himself drawn to the family business after working as a Washington lobbyist for the Sierra Club and then for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.

ReCellular's loading dock gets a flood of phones in packages large and small. Some come in individual mailers that charities give out to their supporters. Others come in large shipments from collection bins at electronics chains and wireless stores, including Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile locations.

The charities generally get $2 to $10 per donated phone, depending on its value, Newman said.

Work crews separate the phones from the "spaghetti" of nonreusable wires and cords that are set aside for recycling. The phones are sorted, tested, fixed and packaged by model for resale.

ReCellular handles about 500 phone models. About 60 percent of the phones that come in are reusable. The rest are used for parts or sold as scrap.

"We squeeze out as much value as possible," Newman said.

The refurbished phones sell wholesale for about $17 to $18. Retailers sell them for $40 or less, he said.

Newman said 55 percent to 60 percent of the refurbished phones it sells to wholesalers end up in the hands of consumers outside the U.S. He said about a quarter of the refurbished phones sold worldwide come from ReCellular.

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