A few months ago we reported on an initiative that was being undertaken by European companies to standardize mobile phone chargers to cut down on waste and bloated production of accessories.

The European Commission announced that they have decided to adopt a standard microUSB charger for all devices. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and many other major manufacturers have agreed to start manufacturing phones next year that will be using the standardized charger.

Once the charger has entered the market, phones and chargers will be sold separately, so chargers used with previous handsets will be compatible with brand new hand sets. There is currently no specified amount of time for when the items will be sold separately, but it is estimated that it will take at least a few years before it is fully implemented.

Whether this will do anything to reduce the huge amount of waste created by cellphone consumption is yet to be seen, but the effort appears to be appreciated.

Now the question is: When are we going to see this on our side of the pond?