UKH

These have been piling up. I need to get rid of them. Internet searches give promising results that turn out to be useless. Someone says Specsavers will take them, but they never answer the phone when I try to confirm this. Anyone got any useful experience to share?

The hospital near me takes them. Some local clinics also take them.

Hills Service Station in Coniston recycle used batteries, so probably their Ambleside branch too. I'm not sure if there specific types of battery that are verboten.

Hi Nigel and Richard

thanks for the replies. I think most places where you can recycle batteries, such as supermarkets, specifically exclude the tiny little button batteries used in hearing aids.

I thought they were accepted. But it was requested that you put sellotape over the ends.

The hospital where I collected my hearing aid specifically had collection points for the batteries as well. I assume they are recycled there.

Whoever you buy them from must take them back by law (well with a caveat they sell over 32kg a year which assuming they're a retailer they're bound to)

I get them online, so not keen on this solution.

Trying to avoid a special journey to hospital for the purpose. I’m pinning my hopes on Specsavers at the moment.

Don’t know if there is anything specific about hearing aid batteries and recycling?

My council’s online recyclable list just says batteries. At the council recycling centres there is nothing on the battery recycling containers to indicate any exclusions. I therefore take all my used batteries to one of my local recycling centres. Some of the batteries are small button ones.

My googling suggested that they shouldn’t be mixed with ordinary batteries, but you never really know what to believe on the internet. Perhaps this is just another of those stories you hear (but don’t want to believe) that suggest much recycling consists of quietly dumping in landfill.

I've been dropping off similar types of cells (LR44 and so on) in the recyling bin at Robert Dyas.

There's a potential issue of the design (extended metal outer cover) causing short circuits in other batteries if you have enough of them mixed in with all the other AAA/AA/C/D/etc cells, which is a fire risk.

So, yes, leave them in a small plastic bag, or something.