Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you Accept
X
Apple Vision Pro Hands-OnBest Meal Delivery ServicesCNET CouponsNew Apple Watch PerksBest Solar CompaniesAI and Your Job SearchBest Satellite Internet ProvidersMortgage Rates
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

O2 wants to stop bundling phone chargers to help environment

O2 and HTC's bid to stop bundling phone chargers to reduce waste is off to a good start.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
See full bio
Joe Svetlik
2 min read
Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
This advertising widget is powered by Navi and contains advertisements that Navi may be paid for in different ways. You will not be charged for engaging with this advertisement. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, this advertising widget does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We make reasonable efforts to ensure that information in the featured advertisements is up to date, each advertiser featured in this widget is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its offer details. It is possible that your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms in this advertising widget and the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser which will be presented to you prior to making a purchase. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

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.