Say Good-Bye to Mercury Hearing-Aid Batteries

Hearing-aid batteries generally contain a miniscule amount of mercury. But even this small amount may become a thing of the past with the introduction of zero-mercury batteries for hearing aids that perform just as well as conventional types. Energizer Canada Inc. says it is now the only battery manufacturer in the world to sell a zero-mercury hearing-aid battery to consumers. This development comes well ahead of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s (NEMA) commitment to eliminate mercury from button-cell batteries by June 30, 2011.

Energizer estimates that if all manufacturers were able to follow their lead, several tons of mercury could be removed from hearing-aid batteries each year.

Energizer says it uses a new manufacturing process and purer raw materials in its zinc-air cells to eliminate the heavy metal.

Edited by Leland Teschler