O2 to sell phone without charger to cut waste

Mobile network provider O2 plans to sell a new HTC smartphone without a charger to cut down on waste. The firm says it made the decision because its research suggests […]

Mobile network provider O2 plans to sell a new HTC smartphone without a charger to cut down on waste.

The firm says it made the decision because its research suggests there could be more than 100 million unused chargers lying in drawers or tangled in cupboards in the UK.

The unnamed phone will have a micro-USB charging slot and customers will still get a micro-USB to USB cable. Customers who buy the phone will be able to buy a charger for cost price.

The firm wants to eventually do the same with other phone models and to have others in the industry follow suit.

O2 claims if we threw away those 100million unused chargers at the same time,  they would take up four Olympic swimming pools worth of landfill space, with 18,700 tonnes of components and 124,274 miles of copper wire and plastic covering.

Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 in the UK said: “The environmental cost of multiple and redundant chargers is enormous and I believe that, as the mobile phone has become more prevalent, we as retailers and manufacturers have an ever-greater responsibility to be a more sustainable industry.”

 

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