Every year, close to 15 billion batteries are thrown in the trash. Most of these end up in landfills. This can cause catastrophic fires, pollute the environment with dangerous chemicals, and contribute significantly to climate change.

I’m Sri Nihal Tammana, a 12-year-old schoolboy from Edison, New Jersey, and I’m dedicated to helping people recycle more batteries. Did you know that only around 1% of people know about proper battery disposal? That’s something that needs to change.

In 2019, I started a non-profit organization called Recycle My Battery to help promote and facilitate proper battery disposal. Since then, we have recycled more than 265,000 batteries and educated more than 12.5 million people about battery recycling. These are great results, but I know that to have a bigger impact, we need to work with people in power. To make a real difference, we need laws in place to encourage more recycling.

Several parts of the world, including all European Union countries, as well as Vermont and the District of Columbia here in the USA, have already passed laws requiring battery recycling. In these areas, battery manufacturers must pay for the cost of recycling. This ensures that fewer batteries end up in landfills and that manufacturers are held accountable for the environmental impact their businesses have, and that they profit from.

Without rapid action from governments and legislators, billions of batteries will continue to be thrown in the trash every year, and the impact on our environment and climate will only get worse. I hope you can take just a few seconds to sign this petition to call for other areas and states in the USA to discuss and pass new laws like those in Vermont and Washington DC.