Scoil Chonglais Win Repak Innovation Award at Stripe YSTE 2026

Scoil Chonglais students Emma Harmon, Keelynn Keogh, and Aimee O’Reilly have been announced as winners of The Repak Innovation Award in Packaging Design and Recycling at the prestigious Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (YSTE) 2026, held at the RDS in Ballsbridge.

Their award-winning project, “Biodegradable Fruit Stickers”, tackles the environmental challenge of single-use plastics in fruit and vegetable packaging. 

The Baltinglass students made recycled cardboard, edible glue, a bioplastic for stickers or packaging, and food nets made from nettle fibre. They then tested these materials for tensile strength, water resistance, and biodegradability.

“We decided to make biodegradable fruit stickers after we noticed that stickers were not degrading in our school composter,” says Emma. “We made our stickers out of recycled newspaper, water and cornflour.”

Keelynn explained that the “stickers are biodegradable in three to four weeks” and added, “we also found that fruit bags weren’t very sustainable and aren’t recyclable, so we made our own out of nettle fibres.”

“We then crocheted them into bags which is suitable for all fruit and vegetables,” added Aimee. “We’re really happy to win the award as it shows that our hard work is paying off.”

This research is particularly timely as the European Parliament plans to ban single-use plastics in fruit and vegetable sales by December 2030, making innovative solutions such as this essential for the future of sustainable packaging.