- Three 16-year-olds from India won the Global Earth Prize for a tamarind-seed powder that pulls microplastics out of drinking water.
- Called Plas-Stick, the powder clumps invisible plastic particles together so they can be lifted out with a simple handheld magnet.
- The team, the first Global Winner from India, now plans to scale it to rural communities that rely on stored water.
Three teenagers have won the Global Earth Prize for inventing a powder made from tamarind seed that pulls microplastics out of drinking water using nothing more than a magnet.
Sixteen-year-olds Vivaan Chhawchharia, Ariana Agarwal and Avyana Mehta, from India, claimed the global award after taking the Asian prize earlier in the year, in a contest voted on by 23,000 experts from dozens of countries.
“Being named the Global Winners of The Earth Prize is incredibly special for all of us, especially as the first team from India to receive this recognition,” the trio said in a statement.
Their invention, called Plas-Stick, uses powdered tamarind seed as an all-natural clumping agent. Stirred into water, the biodegradable powder binds invisible plastic particles into visible clumps that can then be lifted out with a handheld magnet — no electricity, filters, or complex equipment required.
The idea grew out of the team’s environmental science studies and a visit to a rural community, where they saw drinking water stored in shared containers without access to advanced filtration. More than 2.2 billion people worldwide lack safely managed drinking water, which pushes many to rely on stored water that can contain microplastics.
With the global recognition behind them, the team plans to scale the powder through local production hubs and bring it to rural communities across India and beyond.
“Plas-Stick was designed to be simple, affordable and accessible, and this support allows us to take it beyond pilot schools and scale it to many more communities that need it most!”
