Save the world by not giving out unwanted free phone chargers

Buy a phone, whether direct from a manufacturer or from a mobile operator, and chances are it'll come with a phone charger. You'll probably plug it in and chuck the old one in a drawer somewhere, "just in case." Once upon a time, when phones were all equipped with their own proprietary chargers, each with an infuriatingly different connector, that would have made sense, too.

But these days, it doesn't. Thanks to European mandates, virtually every phone on the market uses a micro-USB connector and chargers are now interchangeable. Even the iPhone, which doesn't use micro-USB on the handset, can use these standard chargers with a suitable adaptor. As a result, there's no point sticking the old charger in a drawer and plugging in the new one. In fact, there's no point in getting a new charger at all. The old one is just fine.

Since last September, British phone operator O2 has been running an experiment with the HTC One X+ to see if customers really want or need chargers with their phones. The telco shipped the One X+ with a USB cable—but without a charger to connect it to. Anyone wanting a new charger to go with their new phone would have to buy it separately.