The US lawmakers have called on the Commerce Department to do the adoption of a single charger to power a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, portable speakers, and e-readers.
Recently, the European Commission announced the adoption of a USB-C port as a single charger to power a variety of devices by 2024.
The USB charger market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.6 percent during the forecast period to reach $81.7 billion by 2031.
Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demanded that the country develop a strategy to require a common charging port across all mobile devices.
The new EU law has the potential to significantly reduce e-waste and help consumers who are tired of having to rummage through junk drawers full of tangled chargers to find a compatible one, or buy a new one.
“The EU has acted in the public interest by taking on powerful technology companies over this consumer and environmental issue. The United States should do the same, the senators wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The average consumer owns approximately three mobile phone chargers, and around 40 percent of consumers report that, on at least one occasion, they could not charge their mobile phone because available chargers were incompatible.
The lack of interoperability standards for charging and other device accessories also results in e-waste and environmental damage.
In 2019, humans generated a staggering 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste, and 17 percent of this waste was recycled. Chargers that are discarded or never used create more than 11,000 tons of e-waste annually.
The US senators are not requesting that the Commerce Department codify USB-C as the universal charging standard.
