Compelled by present-day environmental issues, some young scientists here have proved the old adage, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ correct by coming up with certain useful technologies to overcome the problems.

One such talented boy is Haris Bin Ashraf, an ‘individual category’ winner in the National Science Fair-2013.

While Karachi-based Haris with the help of his mentors created the technology to produce self-disintegrating plastic bags; girls, too, proved their talent in the field of science. A group of three students — Fatima Moin Veera, Hania Hasan and Umme Salma Shabbir Gadriwala from Karachi’s Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School — were among the winners of the ‘group projects’ category in the same competition. Through their inventions, they have tried to address the issue of water contamination caused by metals. The girls have created a unique technology to utilise fruit waste to purify water.

These along with some other  winners of the National Science Fair will be displaying their projects in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) from May 12-17 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA where 1,500 high school students from 70 countries will be joining, too.

Excited about their trip to the USA, these high achievers in a chit-chat with Dawn talked about their inspiration, their mentors and future plans.

A consumer product A student of Defence Authority Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid College, Haris Bin Ashraf categorises his invention as ‘mainly’ a consumer product which he hopes will solve the problems caused by the usage of typical plastic bags.

Haris talks a bit about his invention. “Plastic bags take too long to disintegrate and are barely recyclable thus when they are discarded, they enter our landfills and marine ecosystem causing environment degradation as well as damage to the marine life,” he explains.

The young scientist has named his project CESDEF: the plastic bags that are ‘Cost Efficient, Self-Disintegrating and Eco-friendly’.

“I, with the help of my supervisor Mr Masroor Kamali, coordinator of our Physics department in college and Mr Arshad Loya, in-charge of the secondary section, came up with the idea to produce plastic bags that can get decomposed quickly,” reveals Haris. “We worked in a factory set-up where we experimented with a mineral called zeolite.”

Haris claims that the use of zeolite in the manufacturing process of plastic bags can aid in their decomposition. “Once discarded, when plastic bags made through this technology are buried in soil, they get disintegrated completely in just nine to 10 months.”

Besides being eco-friendly, hygienic and durable enough to carry heavy loads, these plastic bags are cost-efficient as well and after displaying his project in the Intel Science Fair, Haris has plans to further work on this at a higher level. He aims to completely replace the usage of typical plastic bags with his environment-friendly bags by catering to the needs of consumers as well as industries.

An industrial product Meanwhile, the trio of girl scientists gives all credit to their school’s Chemistry teacher, Mrs Saman Ali, for the success of their project, which they believe will solve the water contamination issue.

“The peels of oranges, bananas and lemons are thrown away but this waste can actually be put to  good use,” one of the group members of the winning team, Umme Salma, informs about their project which is basically an industrial product and if utilised, can solve a major issue of water pollution caused by metals such as copper, lead and chromium.

Hania Hasan, another member in the girls’ group, explains that the presence of metals in industrial waste water are responsible for low blood pressure, brain tumour, skin allergies, lung and kidney diseases. “We used fruit waste in its powdered form to purify water from heavy metals and with the use of this technology, the possible accumulation of metals in plants, fish and consequently in human beings will be reduced.”

Hania defines this biomaterial as “cost-effective, free of harmful side effects and in line with green Chemistry.”

Unique and useful, the projects unveil the hidden talent of our new generation.