Sony & Nokia join O2’s sustainability push

Global audio, visual and IT giant Sony has joined O2’s sustainability campaign that the network hopes will see all mobile phones sold without chargers by 2015. The Japanese firm is trialling the programme with its Xperia SP handset, which will be sold without a charging unit as standard.

Sony has become the third handset manufacturer to sign up to the “Chargers out of the Box” scheme. The move follows O2’s successful trials with two HTC handsets – in which 82% of customers bought the handset without chargers, choosing to use existing equipment.

Nokia too is signing up to the scheme with its Nokia Lumia 925 – their flagship smartphone handset – which will be sold without chargers included on O2 when it launches in June. The 925 is Nokia’s first phone to be included in O2’s environmental initiative and will be sold with a micro-USB to USB charging cable but without a plug.

The “Chargers out of the Box” initiative was launched by O2 to cut down the environmental waste caused by the millions of unnecessary chargers sold annually. It is thought that at least 70% of all existing mobile phone owners now have the interchangeable USB charging units that can be used with almost any handset – and yet 30 million phones are sold each year in the UK including this piece of near-redundant equipment.

Ronan Dunne, ceo of O2, who has made it his personal mission to see all phones sold without chargers included, commented: “As an industry, we have a duty to our customers to behave in a way that is environmentally responsible, making our businesses leaders in sustainability. Taking chargers out of the box is a small change that has a huge environmental benefit – cutting down not just on waste, but also the environmental costs of transport, storage and component manufacture.”

Catherine Cherry, marketing director for North West Europe at Sony said: “There is a clear willingness amongst customers to listen to the environmental message, so from our perspective pilots like this are essential to reducing environmental waste.

“Networks and handset manufacturers have to take a lead on this area and so we were eager to run a trial with one of our leading smartphones. If it works well, we will obviously consider rolling this out more widely.”