Edison Teen Wins CNN Heroes Young Wonder Award For Environmental Work

EDISON, NJ — Sri Nihal Tammana, a 13-year-old Edison student recently won the prestigious CNN Heroes Young Wonder Award for his work in keeping batteries out of landfills and water supply.

In a ceremony televised on Dec. 12, Tammana was awarded for his work through the youth-driven non-profit Recycle My Battery. The non-profit manages collection bins all over the country and helps educate people on how to properly dispose of batteries.

Actor Jeremy Sisto introduced Tammana to the audience during the ceremony.

As a 10-year-old Tammana was watching the news on TV when he saw a story about a waste disposal plant on fire. He found out that a lithium-ion battery that had been thrown out instead of recycled had exploded.

“It was my birthday and my dad said that I had to be more concerned about what was going on around the world. So that's why I sat down to watch the news,” Tammana said. “I clearly remember watching the chaos, and it was super scary.”

Tammana then learned that billions of batteries are thrown away each year hurting the environment and people. That’s when he started collecting batteries in his community and slowly got other volunteers involved. That gave birth to his non-profit Recycle My Battery.

“Batteries are so common that a lot of people forget about recycling them, and they end up in the trash. Only 1 percent of the people around the world know about the battery recycling process,” Tammana said.

“The chemicals from the battery are very hazardous for not only us but for Mother Earth as well.”

Recycle My Battery promotes and facilitates battery recycling, and helps educate people. The non-profit places battery recycling bins at schools, libraries, offices and at the local YMCA so people have easy access to disposal.

The organization has successfully collected more than 200,000 used batteries, keeping them away from landfills. They have partnered with Call2Recyle, the largest battery recycling non-profit in the U.S. and Canada. With their help, Tammana’s non-profit has been able to place recycling bins at various locations across New Jersey and the country.

The batteries collected by Tammana’s organization are recycled to be turned into new batteries and other items.

Speaking about the CNN award ceremony, Tammana said he was excited to meet celebrities like Anderson Cooper, Kelly Ripa and celebrities who were present. “I was also excited to meet the other awardees and see the good work they are doing across the globe,” the teen said.

A student at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Edison, Tammana says that many of his teachers and other students call him “battery boy,” for his initiative.

“They're calling me ‘battery boy’ at school for fun. My peers have been emailing me saying they saw me on TV. They now want to help us with our initiative,” Tammana said.

The 13-year-old is an avid soccer player and his favorite subjects at school are math, environmental science, physic and biology.

“I hope to see more and more kids join our organization, helping us collect batteries and educating people to recycle them,” Tammana said.

To learn more about the organization, visit recyclemybattery.org.

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