Since the beginning of 2020, the European Union has made clear its intentions to make USB-C the standard charging port on the market. With this, all mobile and portable device manufacturers would be required to abandon the use of other types of charging ports such as MicroUSB or Apple Lightning .
This proposal aims to reduce the environmental impact generated by electronic waste by giving the user the possibility of having a charger for all the devices he uses. Well, two years after knowing this news, new information has emerged indicating that the EU is close to achieving the approval of this law.
The EU again requires USB-C as the only charging port
Everything seems to indicate that it is not long before USB-C ports are mandatory, as revealed by a recent report published by the Reuters news agency. It details that the European Parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee has just endorsed this proposal. This means that next month the assembly of the European Union will put this new legislation to a vote to decide its possible approval.
The committee in charge of this bill wants all smart devices in Europe to be able to charge with USB-C. This includes from mobile phones to tablets, headphones, e-readers, low consumption laptops, electronic toys, etc. However, it recognizes that this law may not apply to those devices that, due to their size, cannot have a USB-C port. For example, certain smart watches, health trackers, etc.
What is the environmental impact of the variety of charging ports in the mobile industry?
Europe annually receives up to 500 million chargers for various mobile devices, which produce between 11,000 and 13,000 tons of electronic waste . This is because a single person may need up to 4 or 5 different chargers for each of their devices (smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc.).
The standardization of the USB-C port would help reduce the number of cables and chargers by favoring their reuse . And… What does Apple think about it? Well, the apple brand has declared that this legislation goes against the innovation of the smartphone industry.
And you… What do you think of this law?
