The overall objective of this paper is therefore to investigate and quantify the economic performance of the reverse logistics, reuse, and recycling operations for end-ofuse cell phones. In-depth economics analysis of cell phone reuse and recycling helps us understand the business models and drivers as well as the operational strategies and challenges that underlie and surround these closed-loop supply chains. The research focuses in particular on thirdparty take-back enterprises, which emerge as the central agents of most reverse logistics, reuse, and recycling operations for handsets. The assessments are based on detailed primary data collected from reverse logistics, reuse, and recycling operations in 2003 in the UK
and in 2006 in the USA [5, 6]. The paper complements another recent submission which contains a detailed assessment of the environmental performance of the same reverse logistics, reuse, and recycling operations (Geyer R, Doctori Blass V. The role of displaced production for reuse and recycling: the example of cell phone end-of-life management. J Ind Ecol, under review).