Nihal and his 150+ team of young kids have recycled over 1,50,000 used batteries and spread awareness amongst 1.5 million people on the importance of recycling used batteries.
US-based Indian American Sri Nihal Tammana founded ‘Recycle My Battery’ in 2019. Nihal’s campaign started when he was 10 years old and saw on TV how a fire at a California-based waste plant caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage. He soon found that it was due to discarded lithium-ion battery.
He promotes and facilitates the recycling of used batteries through safe disposal and awareness.
For his brilliant initiative, Nihal Tammana got Special National Recycling Award for 2020 from the National Waste Recycling Association, New Jersey State Recycling Award from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for 2020, One in a Million Award for 2020, Global Kids Achiever Award for 2020, and Citizens Award for 2020 from Woodbrook Elementary School, Edison NJ.
Nihal pondered over the ignorance of the general population over the safe disposal of batteries. He established this NGO to promote and facilitate recycling through safe disposal. His main idea has been to educate others about the process.
Nihal through his research found the hazardous ill-effects of used batteries. The improper disposal causes fire can cause fire and pollution, a mounting concern for us. He used social media platforms to spread awareness and collaborated with US-based Call2Recycle, a rechargeable battery and cell phone collection organization, to place certified battery bins in various locations in the US, including offices, schools, libraries, private and public companies, etc.
The collected batteries are transported to respective recycling facilities, where they are either made into new batteries or other items. The organization Call2Recycle takes care of all the costs, including free two-way priority shipping of the bins, and has placed bins in about 200 locations in the US. Nihal and his team also visit schools and houses to educate people and collect batteries.
Recently Nihal’s organization reached another milestone when it partnered with the Telangana government which is building a battery recycling facility plant, to spread awareness and educate school and university students on battery recycling. Aloe Ecell, an aloe vera-based battery manufacturer, which decided, as part of its CSR activities, will help the NGO by providing shipping bins and recycling batteries. Not only India, children from Canada, the UAE, and Ireland have also come forward to support Nihal and Recharge My Batteries. His vision to have zero used batteries dumped in the garbage can be a reality if more kids understand and spread the message.
