O2 And HTC To Release Handset Without A Phone Charger

O2 and HTC are set to release the first ever mobile without a phone charger as part of the UK operator’s bid to remove them from the box by 2015.

The new handset will launch by the end of this year and any potential customer who wants a charger will have to purchase one separately.

O2 says that it hopes that the majority of people will choose not to exercise this option and use existing equipment. The phone will ship with a micro USB cable and can be charged through an existing charger or any device with a USB slot.

Phone Charger

The company estimates that as many as 70 percent of people who buy the 30 million new phones sold each year in the UK already own the necessary charging equipment to power their new handsets. It is estimated that there are as many as 100 million unused chargers in the UK that are either duplicates or are from old handsets.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that UK households waste nearly £124 million a year by leaving gadgets plugged in despite the device being fully charged.

“I have a simple vision for O2: we want to take chargers out of boxes full stop,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2. “Right now, O2 with HTC has to go it alone on this matter – we both believe in it passionately enough that we can’t wait for the industry as a whole to join us in this crusade.”

O2 says that the unused chargers amount to 18,700 tonnes of components, 124,274 miles of copper wire and plastic covering and the volume of landfill required if they were thrown away would be enough to fill four Olympic swimming pools. Eliminating the charger would also reduce the amount of packaging and transport needed, further reducing the environmental cost.

“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,” added Dunne. ““I would now call on our sector to do more. As a universal charger becomes a reality we should be bold enough to do the right thing by the planet and take the obvious next step: no longer offering a new charger as standard with every new phone.”

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