Because Styrofoam can’t easily be recycled, it often ends up in the trash. But a group of middle school students from Folsom, California, designed a digester that uses bacteria to eat Styrofoam–and turns it into energy and biodegradable plastic.

“It’s a big problem in the world right now,” says 13-year-old Emily Miner, one of the inventors of the tool, called the Polystyrenator. “A lot of Styrofoam is getting into waterways and affecting the environment negatively. Our robotics team thought it was a big problem that needed to be addressed.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/3060571/10-clever-student-inventions-that-could-reduce-our-waste