Lawmakers in Europe unveil a proposal to force smartphone makers to adopt a universal, brand-agnostic charging cable in an effort to reduce electronic waste.
"Chargers power all our most essential electronic devices," Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, said in a statement."With more and more devices, more and more chargers are sold that are not interchangeable or not necessary. We are putting an end to that."
"We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger," Vestager said in a statement Thursday."This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions." The lawmakers estimate that all together the new measures will help consumers in Europe limit the number of new chargers purchased and save nearly $294 million per year on unnecessary charger purchases.Apple chargers are seen here in this Sept. 4, 2016 file photo.
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