The European Parliament last week approved establishing a single type of universal charger for all electronic devices marketed in the European Union. As agreed by the Europarliament, by autumn 2024 all frequently used small and medium-sized electronic devices will have to use a USB Type-C charger.
USB Type-C charger to come into force in autumn 2024
This will mean that, from that time onwards, mobiles, tablets, eBooks, headphones, cameras and other devices will have to use the same type of USB Type-C charger and will be interchangeable with each other.
They will not be the only devices affected by the measure. From that date, computers will have a period of 40 months to also be adapted to the new legislation and incorporate the universal European model as a single charger.
According to data provided by the European Parliament, this will mean that millions of chargers will have to be discarded across the continent, which will cease to be useful in autumn 2024, when the universal USB Type-C charging port will begin to be used. It is estimated that will be about 11,000 tons of e-waste per year generated by rendering all chargers using another charging port useless.
However, homogenizing chargers in Europe will also mean that changes in the technology market worldwide may occur that generate even more waste, with perhaps other countries adopting the same standard, to make it easier for manufacturers to make their products.
From ANOVO, a company specialized in technological after-sales services, they point out another improvement that the decision adopted by the European Parliament will have. According to them, the impact of the initiative for the end consumer will mean savings of up to 250 million euros in the purchase of unnecessary chargers, since users will be able to use the same charger for all their electronic devices.