O2 sells HTC One X Plus without charger to save environment

Last year in October, O2 launched a no-charger trial (Charger out of the Box), in a bid to cut down on environmental waste. The results of that trial are in and they look promising.

In a blog post, O2 says, “Since the “Charger out of the Box” pilot was launched in October, 82% of those who bought the charger-free handset did not buy a separate charger for it – exceeding O2’s target of 70%.

“The pilot, the first of its kind in the world, offers the HTC One X+ handset with just the USB-to-micro-USB connection lead with the phone (although if customers do want a charger with their new handset, they are able to purchase one at cost price).

“There are 30 million new phones sold in the UK each year. If the results of this pilot were repeated with all handsets, there would be 24 million chargers fewer sold annually in the UK – a huge environmental saving.”

Ronan Dune, O2 CEO, says, “More than four-in-five of our smartphone customers who have participated in the trial are willing to buy a new phone from us and to use an existing charging device to attach it to the mains.

“The results of the trial demonstrate a clear willingness among consumers to consider and respond to the environmental argument for taking a phone charger-free.  I now hope that as a result of this study the rest of the industry will now consider joining us in our campaign to take chargers out of the box for good.”

Phil Roberson, HTC’s Regional Director of the UK, says, “Along with O2, we’ve been encouraged by the numbers of people who have taken our flagship handset without a USB charger. This pilot demonstrates that, if we inform our customers about the environmental impact of wasted phone chargers and the benefits of using the chargers and mains adapters that they already own, they respond positively to the message.”

Dunne concludes, “These trial results offer powerful evidence that customers are prepared to amend their purchasing decisions if they have more choice and more information.  The lesson for the industry from this pilot is that consumers are very receptive to the message that they can benefit the environment by avoiding the needless purchase of chargers.  I would now like to see others taking similar steps, working with us as we aim to ensure all our handsets are sold charger-free by 2015.”

Does O2’s Trial inspire you to do more to save the environment? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

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