The universal phone charger

By Lea Keiper, Tunza magazine intern, May 2011

We at Tunza were quite angry about the fact that there was nothing like a universal charger for mobile phones, leaving us customers searching through drawers full of junk, desperate to find the right one. And that’s before we begin to worry about the effect that having one special gizmo for each gadget has on the planet’s resources. So we were about to start campaigning for a universal charger … then we found something surprising.

The European Union (EU) had spotted the problem in 2009, and reached agreement with the 14 major mobile phone companies, which supply more than 90 per cent of Europe’s mobiles, to harmonize chargers for smart phones: Nokia, Motorola Mobility, Qualcomm, Apple, Research In Motion (RIM), Samsung, Huawei Technologies, NEC, Emblaze Mobile, LGE, Texas Instruments, TCT Mobile (ALCATEL mobile phones), Atmel and Sony Ericsson.

So consumers will be able to charge their mobiles with one common micro-USB charger, considerably reducing the negative environmental impacts of disposing of old ones. Considering that, in the EU, there are around 794 million mobile phone users who replace their handsets every 18 months, and that old chargers make up about 50,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, a common charger should have a huge positive impact. Furthermore, the new universal charger must meet Europe’s new energy efficiency standards.

The agreement applies across the 27 member states of the EU, but the technical specifications of the new charger are now being discussed with other international standardization organizations, as it is hoped that it will also be suitable for use in other parts of the world.

The charger should come on the market soon – certainly within the year. However, the European Commission pointed out that its introduction will happen gradually and will depend on the rate of replacement of old phones. Whilst the EU says it is confident that the common charger will be available through ordinary marketing channels during 2011, it stresses that it cannot control manufacturers’ marketing and distribution strategies.

The EU hopes that its 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which provides for collection schemes so that consumers can return their used e-waste free of charge, will be a good way of dealing with the old chargers rather than their simply being dumped.

Just two questions remain: how come hardly anyone seems to know about this universal charger, and why doesn’t the agreement cover other electronic devices such as laptops and MP3 players?

The first is puzzling because the EU does have a website (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/rtte/chargers/index_en.htm) promoting the universal charger, but it just doesn’t seem to have made any impact; its Facebook group One charger for all has only around 2,000 ‘likes’ out of a population of about 490 million Europeans.

Regarding the second, according to the EU, a harmonized charging solution that also applies to other portable communication products may evolve in the future. As mobile phones are by far the biggest group of products used by the largest group of consumers, it was the top priority. Laptops have much bigger batteries and there are additional safety risks in other devices to be taken into account, making the production of a truly universal charger more difficult.

So, look out for the new device when you are ready to change your mobile – wherever you are – and make sure that the replacement has that universal micro-USB charger. The world will thank you.