2Sustain

I asked the question just last week in my post about Verizon’s 2008-09 Sustainability Report: Why can’t cell phone manufacturers agree on a one-size-fits-all charger? Then, just a few days ago, I ran across news  that phone makers in Europe have agreed to start manufacturing phones that can be charged using a single, universal device beginning in 2010. How remarkably sensible!

Times Online reports that ten companies –including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Apple, Motorola and Samsung –have made this commitment to a universal cell phone charger. These ten companies control about 90% of the mobile phone market in Europe, where there are some 400 million cell phones, with 185 million bought each year. Thanks to this new agreement, after this year, people won’t have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone, and that means a significant reduction in unwanted phone accessory waste going into landfills.

What’s more, the GSMA, the trade organization the represents the mobile phone industry, estimates that the new universal charger will result in a 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, elimination of 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers and a the subsequent reduction of 13.6 million tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Unfortunately, at this point, the new universal charger will only be available for European phone. But, I’m certainly hoping the U.S. will follow this lead.

“We’re assuming this new European initiative will have a knock-on effect globally and manufacturers won’t just be doing this on the European market,” EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said in the Times Online article.