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USB-C connector: The EU wants to save more than a thousand tons of waste a year
Photo: FRED TANNEAU / AFP
New smartphones, tablets and digital cameras, speaker cabinets, headphones and printers – numerous electrical appliances sold in Germany will have to have a uniform USB-C charging port from December 2024. On Wednesday, the government adopted an amendment to the Radio Equipment Act, which implements the corresponding EU directive.
The amendment of this EU directive is "largely due to Germany's initiative," explained Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens). The new law is a relief for consumers and a success for environmental protection. Less consumption of cables and connectors saves resources and reduces the mountain of electronic waste. The standardisation of charging plugs "will contribute to the reduction of more than a thousand tonnes of waste in the EU per year", predicted EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager (who is currently on leave) last year.
The amended law is also intended to give consumers the choice of whether or not to buy a charger together with a new device.
"With the amendment of the Radio Equipment Act, the days of chaos with different charging cables for smartphones, tablets or notebooks are numbered," explained Economics Minister Robert Habeck. According to his ministry, around 2020 million electronic devices were purchased by consumers in the EU in 420. Each consumer owns an average of three chargers, two of which he uses regularly.
Last year, the EU states agreed on the uniform USB-C charging standard. From 2026, it will also apply to notebooks, but not at all to surveillance cameras. Wireless charging devices such as in-ear headphones also don't need to have a USB-C socket.
Apple, which for years had relied on its proprietary Lightning connector and opposed a USB-C requirement, has provided its new iPhone 15 with the mandatory solution.
pbe/dpa/AFP