“What do I do with my used hearing aid batteries?”

“Is it safe to throw out hearing aid batteries in the rubbish?”

“Where can I recycle my hearing aid batteries?”

These are questions we are frequently asked by customers wanting to know what to do with their used hearing aid batteries.

Here is some good news!

Most Bunnings and supermarkets now have large dedicated battery recycling bins, making it easier to dicard your hearing aid batteries in one go. 

HABEX also supports the Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) in their efforts to promote recycling of Hearing Aid Batteries. To find out more about the proper disposing of Hearing Aid Batteries, simply click here.

Why recycle hearing aid batteries?

The zinc in zinc-air batteries is a hazardous component. So is the mercury or mercuric oxide if the battery contains mercury. The danger in throwing them in the garbage when used up, is that when the batteries are dumped at a landfill, over time, the decaying of the batteries could release harmful chemicals into the environment.

While you are not required by law to recycle hearing aid batteries, recycling them is strongly encouraged.

Some facts about recycling …

In Australia, about 350 million batteries are purchased every year.

Over two-thirds of batteries disposed are sent to landfill, making them the most common form of hazardous waste.

Only 6% (by weight) of handheld batteries are currently being recovered for reprocessing.

Metals found in batteries, such as cadmium, nickel, mercury and lead are toxic and endanger the health of wildlife, humans and our environment if not managed properly.

The metallic components in rechargeable batteries can all be recycled. Precious metals found in single-use batteries such as silver, iron and mercury can also be recovered.

Zinc-air and alkaline batteries can be reprocessed using a number of different methods, which include smelting and other thermal-metallurgical processes to recover the metal content (particularly zinc).

The nickel from batteries can be recycled and used to produce stainless steel.

Other materials recycled from batteries can be used to produce new batteries, fertilisers, rubbish bins and plant pots.

Thank you for supporting and recycling