How many cellphone chargers do you have lying about your home? IEC, the international standards and conformity assessment body for all fields of electrotechnology, announced yesterday the publication of the first globally relevant universal phone charger standard for data-enabled mobile telephones..

This new IEC International Standard covers all aspects of the charger, connector and plug, as well as safety, interoperability and environmental considerations.

Tons of redundant chargers are manufactured each year. This new standard creates the opportunity to eliminate a tremendous amount of mobile phone-related electronic waste and – when widely adopted by industry – allow consumers to use a single one-fits-all charger with all new smartphones. Manufacturers will be able to achieve cost-savings in production, packaging and shipping, since they will no longer need to provide a charger with each phone. This may also positively impact retail consumer prices and will reduce the overall CO2 footprint and greenhouse gas emissions of cellphone manufacturers and the industry.

The heart of the standard is based on the micro USB plug created from specs provided by many of the leading smartphone manufacturers, including – Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Research in Motion, Sony Ericsson and LGE.