“It’s good news, but it will have taken time for a measure of common sense”, declared Tuesday, October 4 on franceinfo Ronan Groussier, in charge of public affairs advocacy at the Halte à l’obsolescence programmed (HOP) association. The European Parliament imposes the single charger for smartphones, tablets and other consoles. The USB-C type port is to become the only charger for portable electronic devices sold in the European Union by fall 2024, despite strong opposition from Apple.
franceinfo : It has been more than 10 years since the mobilization for a single charger began. What took so long?
Ronan Grossier : This is a subject that Europe launched in 2009. At first the Commission wanted to leave the initiative to the voluntary participation of manufacturers, but some dragged their feet. This is now good news, but it will have taken time for a measure of common sense.
How is this measure a good thing?
It’s good for the consumer since it will allow him to gain in simplicity and practicality. In general, at HOP, we support everything that makes the consumer a little less captive to a manufacturer and its technologies. For the environment, this will make it possible, by extending the life of the chargers and their pooling, to save money on electronic waste, which is very numerous today.
What is electronic waste?
Just on the perimeter of smartphones, at European level, it is estimated that it is 11 to 13,000 tonnes of waste per year, chargers and wiring. If we broaden the spectrum to all small portable equipment, we reach 35,000 tonnes of electronic waste per year. It’s colossal.
What is the next step to reduce waste even further?
It is for this text to be extended to other small devices, other than smartphones, and to laptops in 2026. The next step is to have better designed devices that last longer. There’s a whole topic under discussion about batteries. We are campaigning for them to be removable, repairable and why not standardized.