Okay, we know you’re dying for the next-generation iPhone in June. See the current iRumors here, but for those of us who can’t hand-me-down the phone to our distant and far less technologically advanced relatives, here’s the TakePart guide to recycling that first iPhone – and feeling good about it – while you get in line outside the Apple/AT&T stores for “Version 2.0″!:

1. Greenpeace-Enforced Free Recycling – sure, you’d like to get a credit towards your next-generation iPhone, but Greenpeace has been hassling Apple since early iPod days to go green with the toxic substances found in its products. Click here to ask Steve Jobs for a Greener Apple. Great iPhone dissection video here.

Apple has been offering free recycling of its products through its stores for quite some time now, launched way back in 2006. However, the recycling was only free if you bought yourself a new gadget to replace the recycled one. Now, iPods and iPhones can be recycled for free without having to buy a new one, but if you want to recycle your old computer (regardless of its brand), you’ll still need to upgrade or pay.

No surprise, Apple has gone greener – announced on February 24, 2008. Here’s the official Apple recycle link (funny, no iPhones showing…); and one site that raised additional noise was GreenMyApple. Check out its historical archive.

2. How about AT&T? – A little on the corporate side, but AT&T is doing some needed CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to help the effort. Now if only they’d do a promotion around buying our first-gen phone and giving us some credit for the next-gen purchase. Odds are they will, but it will be minor as iPhone 2.0 demand will be high p.m.n.m.w. (pretty much no matter what).

3. eBay’s Rethink Program – What better way to encourage recycled trade than auctioning your semi-old iPhone on eBay. In eBay’s words: “The Rethink Initiative brings together industry, government and environmental organizations to offer a fresh perspective and new answers to the challenge of e-waste.” Craigslist is another opportunity for a “meet me at a nearby Starbucks and we’ll trade up” approach. There are 635 ‘adoptable’ iPhones for sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles, alone.

Also check out: eBay’s Giving Works – Better yet, use Giving Works to support a worthy cause via your iPhone donation. Powered by MissionFish, this site has raised nearly $80 Million for 13,278 non-profits since 2003. Good stuff, and makes you sleep better at night (unless you keep your phone under your pillow…). Other worthy non-profits include Recycle Wireless Phones.

4. Borrow Recycling Ideas from the Third World – With India’s mobile subscriber base passing the US’s last month, we should take a fine look at other countries’ methods for recycling. One Finnish Nokia cell phone modification guru is touring the world finding better solutions:

Chipchase is a member of a team at Finnish cell phone giant Nokia that’s trying to lower the cost of phones for emerging markets, an effort that’s part market development and part recycling. The group of 15 has scanned bazaars and street shops in places as diverse as Ghana, Brazil, Iran, India, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, China, and Mongolia to learn how end users relate to their products–and they discovered surprises that could impact consumer electronics makers within the next 15 years.

5. Get Cash Online for Your iPhones – Okay, there’s multiple options out there, but I recommend you think this weekend about jettisoning. Here’s one example ($84-134), another, and yet another… Read this interesting Suite101 post on recycling via “guaranteed buybacks” – these small companies need a GreenDimes approach where people get to sign up and be ready to ‘matriculate’ their phones.

Related: Retiring Your Mobile Phone With Style