O2 wants to stop bundling phone chargers to help environment

By Joe Svetlik on 20 January 2013, 11:06am

In September, O2 launched a bid to stop packing chargers with mobiles to clamp down on environmental waste. The results of the pilot scheme are in, and are looking encouraging.

O2 says in a blog post that it sold HTC's One X+ without a USB charger. Instead, the phone came with just the USB-to-micro-USB cable, though customers could pick up a regular USB wall charger at cost price. 82 per cent of people buying the handset didn't purchase a separate charger, which exceeded O2's aim of 70 per cent, and is good news for the environment.

If this was extended to all 30 million phones sold in the UK every year, that would mean 24 million fewer chargers sold annually in the UK, O2 reckons, dramatically reducing waste.

O2's CEO Ronan Dunne said of the trial: "More than four-in-five of our smart phone customers who have participated in the trial are willing to buy a new phone from us and to use an existing charging device to attach it to the mains.

"The results of the trial demonstrate a clear willingness among consumers to consider and respond to the environmental argument for taking a phone charger-free. I now hope that as a result of this study the rest of the industry will now consider joining us in our campaign to take chargers out of the box for good."

I think it's a good idea, as long as it's made clear to customers exactly what's in the box, to avoid any disappointment once they get their phones home. I've got plenty of duplicate cables, so I can believe O2's claim that there are 100 million unused chargers in the UK. I opted not to buy the official Amazon charger for my Kindle Paperwhite, when I realised the one for my HTC phone would do the job, and saved myself £18 in the process, which I was pretty pleased about.

Of course this relies on manufacturers choosing a standard charger type, which some refuseniks will never do.

What do you think of the scheme? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.

Comments 11

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anonymous 20 January, 2013 13:06

This assumes people aren't buying a cheaper charger elsewhere which I suspect many are, and I suspect O2 know that. This is yet another example of a company claiming (with no proper evidence) to save the environment when what they really want to save is MONEY. Bet the phones are not being sold any cheaper.

Damien2501 20 January, 2013 14:12

I agree O2 could not care less about the environment. Plus, I like having an extra charger here and there.

anonymous 20 January, 2013 15:14

its as well and good if they are really doing it for the environment, but we know they arent.
THey are reducing some form of cost, the dangerous I see about this is when a phone uses a lower voltage to charge, and I use my galaxy s3 charger which is 5v am I not doing damage to the battery?

dougmet 20 January, 2013 16:04

It's only the cable that apple phones can't use. The USB charger is pretty universal which is great. My house is starting to get full of them so this seems like a sensible move.

Damien2701 20 January, 2013 16:24

strange how companies only care about the environment when it suits

davefromwales 20 January, 2013 17:30

and they reduced the cost to the consumer as they arent paying for the charger in the box..........yea right. this isnt about the environment, its about finding a `green` way to make more money.

Also lets not overlook the irony that all stores have moved from dummy models which use no leccy to full displays of powered units. bet thats done well for the environment lol.

I think the premise is there, and if you got say a £15 rebate or reduction off the price it would be right, but paying the same price for less goods isnt `green` its ripping you off

anonymous 20 January, 2013 21:26

I wonder how many of those 82% knew there wasn't a charger in the box? I suspect many assumed there was so why would they buy a charger at the same time, unless they thought it was a spare (for the office etc) only to find out later it wasn't 'spare' at all.

anonymous 21 January, 2013 15:03

Rubbish. This is 02 trying to cut costs and increase profits not save the environment. 02 you aren't fooling anyone you money grabbing *******. They should decrease the price of the handset to compensate for the lack of charger if they're serious about being green. I know many people that would prefer the charger straight from the manufacturer just to be sure its definitely the right one for the handset. They also prefer spares to have one at the office and one at home. I bet a lot of money they haven't changed the price of their phones to make up for it. Absolute rip off. Companies only care about the environment when they can make money off it.