As a family, we’re not into dumping toxic heavy metals into the landfill. But that’s just what you’re doing if you throw conventional batteries in your trash. Instead, we stockpile our used batteries in a bag tucked into a drawer that might soon be labeled as a toxic waste superfund site if we don’t get them to a local battery disposal drop-off shortly. I’m pretty sure acid is eating it’s way through the drawers and headed through the floor next. It’s like Three Mile Island all over again. But what if batteries weren’t made from nasty stuff like cadmium, mercury and lead? The battery geeks over at Fuji are trying to address this very issue with more eco-friendly EnviroMax batteries. I say “more eco-friendly” since we really try to use rechargeable batteries now, whenever and wherever we can.
In the non-rechargeable world, Fuji Enviromax eco-friendly batteries hope to achieve green environmental goals, while not sacrificing performance. On the green side, Enviromax are mercury, cadmium and PVC free. They are packaged with over 75% recycled materials. Even the manufacturing process is greenified by not releasing any ozone depleting compounds. PET plastic is used in both the battery jacket and for the packaging plastics. It’s pretty clear Fuji made some pretty major changes to make these batteries more green.
On the performance front, Fuji boasts the Enviromax has one of the longest shelf lives in the industry, a whopping 7 years. Their power meets or exceeds competitors and they are one of the longest lasting alkaline batteries (with independent labs having tested those claims). The Enviromax are designed for digital devices and have one of the strongest anti-leak protection technologies on the market. No more Three Mile Island effect!
Fuji sent us four AA’s Enviromax’s to test out. What can we say, they’re functional AA batteries. Did we put them into a device and then watch it fail to power up due to a lack of mercury and cadmium? Nope. Did the devices we test them in start emitting smoke in objection to the lack of lead content? Not really. In fact, the Enviromax’s seemed to perform just about like any other traditional alkaline battery we’ve used before.
The real difference is in the lack of nasty ingredients, and the ability to simply toss the battery in the trash rather than worry about sending it to toxic battery recycling heaven. Fuji’s exact wording on this is “Dispose of in most landfills”, followed by the disclaimer, “Please follow your state and local regulations regarding the proper disposal of all batteries.” My corporate CYA translation leads me to believe you can probably trash them without fear of government reprisals, but naturally, “Please follow your state and local regulations regarding the proper disposal of all batteries.” That’s HomeFixated plagiarized CYA for you.
With all that said, if you truly want a “green battery”, you should strongly consider switching to rechargeable entirely. But, for situations when you can’t use a rechargeable, or if your religion requires you only use disposable batteries, the Fuji Enviromax is a great alternative. So, when you can’t use rechargeable, don’t be a tree-slapper and buy toxin-filled batteries. Be a tree-hugger and opt for the Fuji Enviromax instead. You can find the: Fuji EnviroMAX Alkaline AA Battery 4 Pack
And the Fuji EnviroMAX Alkaline AAA Battery 4 Pack
I tried using the Fuji EnviroMax batteries (AA / AAA) and found with the 10+ batches that I bought, 90% of them failed to provide even 50% of the life of Duracell, RayOVac, or Eveready batteries, and 95% of the Fuji batteries LEAKED like sives in their appliances AND in the storage containers while never being used!
I’ve also encountered the LEAKAGE issue with Duracell and RayOvac batteries over the past few years. And I no longer will buy any of those brands.
I’ve been using Fuji batteries for a few years now even though only one store in my area carries them (for about a third of the price of major brands). They last longer.
My biggest beef with batteries is despite how toxic they are to improperly dispose of and how much all our portable devices rely on them, there’s still not a convenient way for even the laziest to do their part. I don’t want to have to save up a heavy box of used batteries (that leak when put all together) and drag it down to the local haz disposal site a few times a year. Why can’t the same trucks that pick up our paper pick up our batteries. Burying paper in a landfill is much safer and environmentally friendly than burying a battery yet they’re not accommodated. Rant completed…for now.
Any chance Fuji’s going to make rechargeable Enviromax batteries soon…? 🙂