The International Telecommunication Union has approved a common cell-phone charger format, using what some of us already have — a mini-USB — as a global standard.
This standard means you don’t need a different charger for a new phone — changing phones frequently is a problem in its own right — so they needn’t be made, bought or discarded. Indeed, there’ll be little call to include a “free” charger with a new phone, so is likely appealing for manufacturers, too.
Less plastic and metal and waste. A good thing. (But hold on to your phone as long as possible and recycle it when it’s dead.)
