Audiology South encourages you to recycle your hearing aid batteries

Audiology South strongly encourages you to recycle your hearing aid batteries rather than disposing of them in your household rubbish. We’ve made this easy by providing battery recycling boxes and designating our clinics as drop-off recycling points.

Lithium batteries, such as the button cell batteries commonly used in hearing aids, can contain toxic heavy metals — nickel, cadmium or mercury — which are listed by the Ministry for the Environment as hazardous waste. On the positive side though, these materials are recoverable so it makes good economic and environmental sense to recycle them.

There is no mandatory requirement in New Zealand to recycle batteries and the common alkaline and zinc carbon batteries can be safely disposed of in landfills.

How many batteries are thrown away?

No statistics could be obtained for the South Island, but in 2013 an Auckland Council report [1] on the appropriate disposal of household batteries estimated that in Auckland there were 2,800 tonnes of batteries to be disposed of annually. Of this quantity 9%, or 252 tonnes, were button cell batteries. That’s truck-loads of toxic waste!

Batteries are generally very safe but there are some precautions that should be taken when storing for recycling. Button cell batteries must be kept out of reach of children as they can cause serious health issues if swallowed. Lithium-based batteries can catch fire when stored in bulk, so don’t hoard used batteries. Rather, next time you drop in to see us for an appointment or purchase, remember to bring your used batteries and allow us to do our bit in recycling!

Rechargeable hearing aids mean less toxic waste

As a final word, many companies, including Siemens/Sivantos and Phonak, are bringing rechargeable hearing aids to the market. As we discussed in our last newsletter, these do away with the need to change batteries and are kinder on our environment! They are also great for people who struggle with batteries because of eyesight or dexterity issues. Rechargeable hearing aids have only been around a short while but are quickly catching on, and we can see a future where most hearing aids are rechargeable!

Hearing aid batteries

[1] Assessment of appropriate disposal options for household (dry cell) batteries. Report prepared for Auckland Council by Tonkin & Taylor Ltd. November 2013, T&T Ref: 29540.

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