Better Battery Co., a Barrie, Ont.-based business founded by two sisters, is looking to stand out in a crowded market with its highly sustainable consumer-grade batteries which are being sold in major retail outlets.

Started in 2021 by co-founders Jaclyn Byles and Jessica Jenkins, Better Battery is behind a line of carbon-neutral alkaline batteries offered in AA, AAA, C, D and nine-volt sizes. In the U.S., its products are sold in select Walmart and Wegmans locations.

The sisters, who had no experience in the battery industry before founding their company, took a leap into the sector to tackle its waste problem.

Byles, who spoke to Sustainable Biz Canada, said she and Jenkins “got really tired of going through batteries and not having a good a way to dispose of them.” The duo looked to address the issue by emphasizing recyclability and offsetting the carbon emissions from the production and transportation of the batteries.

“We really thought, ‘You know what, we could do this better,’ Byles said about the purpose of Better Battery. “We could make the entire business model more streamlined, more efficient, and create a bold, fun brand out of something as simple as a battery.”

Better Battery’s carbon-neutral products

Better Battery is unique in its sector for the use of carbon offsets to reach carbon neutrality for its products. Through partners like CNaught, the company invests in projects such as reforestation or installing electric vehicle chargers to neutralize the carbon emissions in the production, shipping and recycling of its batteries. Those offsets are verified by standards such as BeZero and Calyx Global, CNaught says.

Conscious of its supply chain, Better Battery works to reduce the carbon footprint from its production and logistics where possible, Byles said.

Better Battery is not yet at the scale to make its production and supply chain more sustainable, she said, hence the reliance on offsets. Byles hopes the company will be able to affect its production and shipping if it becomes a more mature business.

As sustainability alone may not be enough to get consumers to switch to Better Battery, the company works to deliver on the fundamental economics. It aims to price its products competitively, Byles said, and Better Battery is focused on letting “people know that there is another option out there” for a greener battery.

“We want to make sure that we can offer a comparative battery without compromising on performance, value, price point.”

A built-in end-of-life process

Once the batteries are depleted, Better Battery offers a recycling program. Customers can send the batteries back in their plastic-free packaging with a prepaid shipping label to be processed by Raw Materials Co. (which was acquired by Environmental 360 Solutions Ltd.), which will recycle the batteries and the box.

“We wanted to make it really easy for consumers to be able to have an end-of-life process built into the battery kit program,” Byles said, “so they could purchase, store and recycle their batteries as the entire business model for that product.”

The zinc, manganese and potassium in the batteries is turned into soil nutrients. The paper and plastic that is unable to be recycled is sent to a waste-to-energy facility. The steel and nickel is recovered and sold back to the market.

There has been a “significant uptake” in Better Battery’s recycling program, Byles said. While she noted it was difficult to calculate how many batteries the company has helped recycle to date, Better Battery has seen a “huge” increase in battery returns in the last 18 to 24 months, Byles added.

Non-profit Call2Recycle said approximately 6,800 tonnes of used batteries were recycled in Canada in 2024.

Expansion to Canadian retail in the wings

The U.S. has been Better Battery’s main market since its founding, a decision based on the country’s less developed recycling initiatives compared to Canada, Byles said. “There was a lot more opportunity for impact.”

Other than Walmart and Wegmans, the company sells its batteries on a business-to-business basis with Martin Guitars. Better Battery’s products are used in the Nazareth, Pa.-based company’s acoustic guitars and main facilities.

In Canada, its clients to date are primarily in the hospitality sector, such as Sheraton and Fairmont.

Better Battery plans to launch into Canadian retail this year, starting with Home Hardware. It then plans to reach new markets and Canadian retailers, Byles said, and produce specialty cells.