Sustainability: hearing aid and metals recycling
When Zoe Fawcett-Eustace began to lose her hearing at 14 years of age she was initially supplied with NHS hearing aids and then, as a relatively young adult, she invested in a pair of private ones.
On upgrading her private ones, a few years ago, she asked what to do with her previous pair. The audiologist explained that there wasn’t really a viable next use. “This seemed to me to be a terrible waste,” said Zoe. “Some hearing aids are so closely physically tailored to the individual that it is not possible to refit them to someone else, however, the standard ‘behind the ear’ (BTE) devices are easily reusable. This type of aid makes up a large percentage of the aids dispensed in the UK meaning there are lots which are going into drawers and bins every day.”
Hear Today Hear Tomorrow, the organisation Zoe went on to set up, is setting out to recover, refurbish and repurpose all redundant hearing aids so that they may be re-used where they are most needed.
Says Zoe: “The funeral sector is ideally placed to help us spread the message; to incorporate the hearing aids into the conversations they are already having with families.”
We are hoping, through our recycling programme, to transform lives both at home – where the very best technology can be prohibitively expensive – and abroad, where more than 360 million deaf people have no access to free hearing aids or hearing care,” adds Zoe.
Funeral directors can play a key part in supporting the work of Hear Today Hear Tomorrow
Click here to read the full feature, which appears in the August edition of Funeral Director Monthly.
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