probably offset by travellers hauling less proprietary cables with them on holidays/business trips/commutes, i now travel with basically one cable to charge almost every device

yes, this is a little tongue in cheek, but i do appreciate the standardization around USB-C

edit: people need to just admit their lives got better with this forced change. (this is not a reply to you, general observation)

Chargers of that era typically had a USB A port and can still be used with an A to C cable

LIghtning due to its DRM chips (and the delicateness of Apple’s “aesthetics-first” first-party cables) was not a long-lived cable. We threw away probably 2-3 per year during the whole era. Throwing away the last couple before their natural death, when I finally eradicated Lightning from our home, was no great loss.

Lightning is just the snowcap on a mountain of Mini- and Micro-USB.

With the benefit of reduced waste in the future, though

You know you can get a lightning-to-C adapter for very little, right? Here you go, under $2 each: https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Adapter-Charging-Transfer-C... (probably under $1 each if you have the patience to look for them in other sites)

And a lot of chargers don't have a cable built-in, they just have a USB-A or -C port - so it's just a matter of replacing the cable. But - again, if you'd rather not do even that, you're welcome to keep using your old cable with a USB-C converter