I'm curious, what percentage of e-waste is attributable to charging bricks, cables, etc? I'm very diligent about recycling and made a run to the county e-waste recycling drop-off last week to turn in a dead av receiver, laptop battery packs, and a plasma TV. Saw many crates of flat panel TVs, old laptops, etc., waiting to get shipped out, probably in a shipping container to someplace in Asia. Did not see a lot of charging bricks, but I'm sure they were in there somewhere. How many and what percentage of these containers are power bricks and cables?
I fear this is just a talisman to deflect attention from the big problems. Like you said old, unrepairable, laptops, flat panel TVs that give up the ghost in three or four years, etc. No attention to that, or as another poster pointed out the literally dozens of brands of power tools with unique batteries and chargers, many brands having a couple of designs that are not compatible with each other. But hey let’s point fingers at Apple because they are the biggest target. Not going to mention the Android brands that do use USB-C but the whole device craps out and gets thrown away in a couple of years.
Surely Apple’s little white chargers are the cause of everything. /s
Reminds me of the people who think that they will solve climate change by not using loop handle bags for their groceries. There’s bigger issues they are ignoring.
It's only Apple because this is an Apple centered site.
The changes are industry changes.
The EU action is actually part of a far wider ranging group of directives which aim to specifically increase the lifespan of products. The textile industry will be one of the first targeted so Apple is safe from that except I suppose for Apple Store employee T-shirts which will have to meet some minimum requirements.
Reparability, and consequently re-use, of electrical and electronic equipment is also going to be dealt with. That will include a batteries directive. Software will also be dealt with. Early proposals call for manufacturers to state up front how much support devices will have and any new features added as part of major updates must be user reversible if they have a negative impact on device performance.
What the EU eventually passes into law will probably affect manufacturing efforts worldwide.
I'm curious, what percentage of e-waste is attributable to charging bricks, cables, etc? I'm very diligent about recycling and made a run to the county e-waste recycling drop-off last week to turn in a dead av receiver, laptop battery packs, and a plasma TV. Saw many crates of flat panel TVs, old laptops, etc., waiting to get shipped out, probably in a shipping container to someplace in Asia. Did not see a lot of charging bricks, but I'm sure they were in there somewhere. How many and what percentage of these containers are power bricks and cables?
It is almost impossible to calculate but baseline estimations were made as part of the various impact studies.
I believe that for 2018 it was estimated that almost 12,000 tonnes of charger related e-waste was generated. Rising to 15,000 tonnes in 2023 IIRC.
One of the problems is that the vast majority of Life Cycle Assessment studies roll the charger and cable into their studies along with the phone itself as decoupling is a relatively new thing.
Then there is the question of how often users upgrade and what they do with their old cables and chargers (direct to waste, storage then waste, or re-use then waste).
Most baseline studies are generated from the data that we have on actual sales, as they are easier to track over time.
However, faster chargers are often more complex and, as a result, heavier so that has to be factored into the yearly estimates on tonnage too.
Then there is the question of how much of the material used in cables and chargers is recycled. This is important from an environmental perspective because the amount of raw materials used in manufacturing is also important.
I'm curious, what percentage of e-waste is attributable to charging bricks, cables, etc? I'm very diligent about recycling and made a run to the county e-waste recycling drop-off last week to turn in a dead av receiver, laptop battery packs, and a plasma TV. Saw many crates of flat panel TVs, old laptops, etc., waiting to get shipped out, probably in a shipping container to someplace in Asia. Did not see a lot of charging bricks, but I'm sure they were in there somewhere. How many and what percentage of these containers are power bricks and cables?
I fear this is just a talisman to deflect attention from the big problems. Like you said old, unrepairable, laptops, flat panel TVs that give up the ghost in three or four years, etc. No attention to that, or as another poster pointed out the literally dozens of brands of power tools with unique batteries and chargers, many brands having a couple of designs that are not compatible with each other. But hey let’s point fingers at Apple because they are the biggest target. Not going to mention the Android brands that do use USB-C but the whole device craps out and gets thrown away in a couple of years.
Surely Apple’s little white chargers are the cause of everything. /s
Reminds me of the people who think that they will solve climate change by not using loop handle bags for their groceries. There’s bigger issues they are ignoring.
I have to agree. The plasma TV I turned in weighed 90 lbs. How many smartphone charging bricks would it take to equal that 90 pounds? Well ... I see that the original iPhone 5W charger weighs 25 grams, or 0.055115 lbs. This means that the one TV I turned in for recycling weighs roughly the same as about 1,633 iPhone 5W chargers. Yeah, the plasma TV is a beast of a thing and an LCD replacement is likely 1/3rd the weight, but even a lighter TV is as much of a load as more than 500 5W chargers. The numbers go down with larger power capacity chargers, and there are billions of these suckers out there, but it still points out that a lot of scrutiny is being directed at ONE category of e-waste while other categories that result in huge amounts of waste are getting by with far less or no scrutiny.
I do agree that waste management needs to be dealt with on both sides, i.e., generate less waste on the front end so less waste has to be processed on the back end. I think Apple has been much more proactive than most at taking responsibility for making its products more recyclable, utilizing recycled materials extensively, and providing a place to drop off some of its old products for recycling. I suppose they could do more.
I would not be opposed "in theory" to requiring product manufacturers to accept anything that they manufactured back as recycled material. They'd retain full control over how to design their products with whatever power bricks and connectors they want but then have to deal with the consequences of their design on the back end. I said "in theory" because I know it would directly impact product acquisition cost and a lot of consumers like to live in a bubble of self induced deception, i.e., "convenience," that includes not having to care about total cost of ownership, especially when some of those costs can be slathered on someone else. Consumers buy stuff based on acquisition costs, not total lifecycle costs. Love that shiny new bridge, road, or school, just don't ask me to also pay to maintain it.
As far as interoperability and consumer convenience are concerned, I'd prefer to see the competitive market handle these issues naturally by placing the onus on product makers to satisfy their customer base in order to survive. Customers who feel that a particular manufacturer is making their life difficult by requiring special chargers or cables or abandoning existing investments should punish those manufacturers by not buying their products. As long as no collusion to artificially partition the market is occurring, let the rewards go to the manufactures who have the greatest number of happy customers.
So making billions of phones cables obsolete over night reduces waste. This is a plot to make someone money. It otherwise makes no sense. will they decide the next cable standard? Remember much of what’s in usb-c is from Apple’s work with Intel on Thunderbolt. Are they planning to force companies to stop forcing chrome on users and use standards instead of Google technology on their websites? Are they going to force video format compatibility so YouTube isn’t required to send quality videos on Android?
In my case yes - if the iphone was USB C I could use the same cables for both the iPad Pro and the phone.
But what happens in 2 or 5 years when USB C is technically obsolete, but they are mandatory? Governmental bodies are going to christen the next standard for everyone?! Both here and in the EU, the whole idea is complete and utter BS!
USB-C will not be obsolete for a long time to come. USB-A is still around for twenty years.
The advantages of USB-C are enormous. We can finally get rid of those ridiculous AC/DC adaptors and outdated USB-A ports. We can finally power up to 240W. USB-C can always negotiate for power requirements which is pretty great. Soon, we will see power plug sockets with USB-C interface to deliver higher power watts.
So, yeah, it's a win win and will likely be good for many decades (and even if data is no longer "fast", it will be used for recharging or powering devices and "low bandwidth data" use).
I don't see why it's an issue for some people who think that government is not in the best interest of consumers when it's really the best choice for businesses AND consumers too. That eliminates ridiculous waste and it enables businesses to easily produce devices that comply with regulations and provide consistent UX for consumers.
I was looking through a Grizzly catalog the other day. They carry DeWalt, Milwaukee and Grizzly's own brand of battery operated tools. The batteries are all unique, not interchangeable. Why aren't countries investigating these companies? Shouldn't we have a standard battery that plugs into every tool? Of course not, because each company has a right to build a tool or product the way they want to do it. Same goes for Apple products.
I don't get it. You see another MASSIVE problem (non-interchangeable batteries) and instead of advocating for a solution that will reduce waste and frustration (a mandated battery standard) you somehow convince yourself the current situation is just fine because Apple has a nonstandard port and you want to believe Apple is always right.
Yes, we absolutely should have standard batteries. Yes, countries absolutely should be investigating tool companies. That there aren't battery standards isn't some imaginary "right" of corporations, it's failure of governments to do their job.
So should car companies forced to use the same size of tires too?
So making billions of phones cables obsolete over night reduces waste. This is a plot to make someone money. It otherwise makes no sense. will they decide the next cable standard? Remember much of what’s in usb-c is from Apple’s work with Intel on Thunderbolt. Are they planning to force companies to stop forcing chrome on users and use standards instead of Google technology on their websites? Are they going to force video format compatibility so YouTube isn’t required to send quality videos on Android?
In my case yes - if the iphone was USB C I could use the same cables for both the iPad Pro and the phone.
But what happens in 2 or 5 years when USB C is technically obsolete, but they are mandatory? Governmental bodies are going to christen the next standard for everyone?! Both here and in the EU, the whole idea is complete and utter BS!
USB-C will not be obsolete for a long time to come. USB-A is still around for twenty years.
The advantages of USB-C are enormous. We can finally get rid of those ridiculous AC/DC adaptors and outdated USB-A ports. We can finally power up to 240W. USB-C can always negotiate for power requirements which is pretty great. Soon, we will see power plug sockets with USB-C interface to deliver higher power watts.
So, yeah, it's a win win and will likely be good for many decades (and even if data is no longer "fast", it will be used for recharging or powering devices and "low bandwidth data" use).
I don't see why it's an issue for some people who think that government is not in the best interest of consumers when it's really the best choice for businesses AND consumers too. That eliminates ridiculous waste and it enables businesses to easily produce devices that comply with regulations and provide consistent UX for consumers.
Yes, because there is only one type of USB-C cable and nobody ever wants to buy a cable that doesn't support TB4 or PD.
Comments
The changes are industry changes.
The EU action is actually part of a far wider ranging group of directives which aim to specifically increase the lifespan of products. The textile industry will be one of the first targeted so Apple is safe from that except I suppose for Apple Store employee T-shirts which will have to meet some minimum requirements.
Reparability, and consequently re-use, of electrical and electronic equipment is also going to be dealt with. That will include a batteries directive. Software will also be dealt with. Early proposals call for manufacturers to state up front how much support devices will have and any new features added as part of major updates must be user reversible if they have a negative impact on device performance.
What the EU eventually passes into law will probably affect manufacturing efforts worldwide.
I believe that for 2018 it was estimated that almost 12,000 tonnes of charger related e-waste was generated. Rising to 15,000 tonnes in 2023 IIRC.
One of the problems is that the vast majority of Life Cycle Assessment studies roll the charger and cable into their studies along with the phone itself as decoupling is a relatively new thing.
Then there is the question of how often users upgrade and what they do with their old cables and chargers (direct to waste, storage then waste, or re-use then waste).
Most baseline studies are generated from the data that we have on actual sales, as they are easier to track over time.
However, faster chargers are often more complex and, as a result, heavier so that has to be factored into the yearly estimates on tonnage too.
Then there is the question of how much of the material used in cables and chargers is recycled. This is important from an environmental perspective because the amount of raw materials used in manufacturing is also important.
The advantages of USB-C are enormous. We can finally get rid of those ridiculous AC/DC adaptors and outdated USB-A ports. We can finally power up to 240W. USB-C can always negotiate for power requirements which is pretty great. Soon, we will see power plug sockets with USB-C interface to deliver higher power watts.
So, yeah, it's a win win and will likely be good for many decades (and even if data is no longer "fast", it will be used for recharging or powering devices and "low bandwidth data" use).
I don't see why it's an issue for some people who think that government is not in the best interest of consumers when it's really the best choice for businesses AND consumers too. That eliminates ridiculous waste and it enables businesses to easily produce devices that comply with regulations and provide consistent UX for consumers.
/s