The Dark Side of EU's Charger Standardisation

Well, it doesn't apply to all of us. We chose Brexit, but if you’re anywhere else in Europe, USB-C will be the only thing you’ll ever need. In June 2022, the EU passed legislation called the common charger directive that states all electronic devices must have the same charger by 2024. The reasoning for this is twofold:

1. Waste - There are 11,000 tonnes of waste just for electronic device chargers alone. If everyone had one good superfast charger for every device they own, this would prevent people from buying and disposing of a fair few.

2. Save consumers money - Even we know it’s a con when Apple sells the charger separately for £19 and changes it every few years so you are forced to buy a new one.

In theory, it all sounds like a good idea, so what’s the problem?

Innovation mainly - As much as we joke about Apple or other big companies creating rackets with all the separate items they sell us to use their devices, they usually have a valid reason for changing their charger. Apple swapped the 30-pin cable for the Lightning cable, allowing them to give us way better phones because now the charging port in the phone is a lot smaller. Big companies know when they change chargers they make all their older devices obsolete. It is never an easy decision, as they know it will never go down well with the consumer. The reasoning for it is usually innovation of product > stagnation. So, although right now USB-C (the one the EU has chosen) is good, fast & small, it may become redundant when a newer technology becomes available. But now the EU and its member states are married to this charger, what happens when something better comes out? Should governments be deciding which way tech should head? It kind of sets a precedent that governments can make tech decisions in the name of sustainability, and what do they really know about tech? (and sustainability? 😉)

This decision applies to all electronic devices with rechargeable batteries, from phones and laptops to smaller things such as earbuds. Here are all 15 categories. USB-C isn’t suitable for every device; it makes more sense for phones and laptops than the smaller ones. Everyone seems to be moving towards wireless technology, but the EU has not addressed this (for now).

Oh and by the way, 11 metric tons of waste is 0.3% of all e-waste.

Apple has been vocal and critical about this legislation. We can safely assume this is because it does undercut them in the charger market, but they do have some valid reasons. Governments should encourage all companies to be more environmentally friendly, but they should not enforce a hard rule that may disadvantage its citizens in the near future. If they want to reduce waste, they should introduce legislation that forces companies to recycle or rethink. There are bigger problems to solve than the chargers. If they really care about e-waste, they should start with the actual old/redundant electronic devices filling up landfills. This is one of those we will have to wait and see how it plays out, but our money is on it probably won’t go well.

The Green Scene

Italy banned ChatGPT last week (refer to meme above)

The Premier League makes footballers take loads of short domestic flights to games in a country as small as the UK (now if these were private jets we might try to understand but they’re not, they just charter a bog standard plane for them to take a 30 min flight)

Wet wipes are banned in the UK

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