A student from Loreto Letterkenny has been named as the European Winner of The Earth Prize 2026.

Arya Satheesh, 18, is sitting the Leaving Cert in the coming weeks and is studying Maths, English, Biology with Ms Margaret O’Reilly, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science and is considering doing Biotechnology or Genetic Engineering at third level.

However, her success with Eco Purge, a solution to tackle the growing crisis of microplastic pollution, means those plans might be held for a year, as she follows her dream following her win.

“Me and my friend, Nida, we were studying computer science because it’s a new course and there’s a lot to study and we don’t know,” Anya tells DonegalLive of when the news came through of her win. “We were trying to figure things out. I randomly checked my email.

“I went to the email tab because it was open. And then all of a sudden, I was there and I was so excited. And I told her and she was really happy. And that’s how we found out. I even took a screenshot and I kept it in my gallery and then I showed my parents. They were all so happy. My mum and dad are so excited.”

With this support, and now $12,000 of prize funding from her success in The Earth Prize, Arya plans to scale the solution for real-world use in products like packaging and compost bags, making it easier to tackle microplastic pollution on a larger scale.

The Earth Prize is the world’s largest environmental competition and ‘ideas incubator’ for 13 to 19-year-olds, empowering young people with mentorship and $100,00 funding.

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“I wanted to do SciFest,” Arya tells DonegalLive. “That’s something that usually takes place in ATU. I did a project before this, which was known as a smart water monitor. The smart water monitor had a limitation. It just monitors all the parameters in water. But the monitor did not have a sensor to monitor microplastics. Eventually, researching microplastics led to Eco Purge.

“When I started researching microplastics, I got deeper into it. I found out how plastics were made, how they were made, and why we can’t get rid of them.

“Is there any solution to that? I found two solutions. One was recycling, and the other one was enzymatic waste. The recycling way, around 9% of the entire plastic produced in each year, around 415 million tons of plastic are produced every year.

“Only 9% of that gets recycled. This enzymatic waste was recently found. It was actually found in 2012. I was like, ” Why aren’t people doing that?”

Eco Purge is a biodegradable plastic that breaks down safely, while releasing catalysts that help actually remove existing microplastics from the environment.

While most solutions focus on reducing plastic use, Eco Purge goes a step further by helping clean up the tiny plastic particles that are already polluting oceans, soil, and even our food and water.

Arya was inspired by one of her earlier projects, monitoring water quality, which revealed a key problem: microplastics could be detected, but not removed.

Wanting to solve this, Arya explored how plastics break down and developed a plant-based plastic that can carry special enzymes. By embedding these enzymes inside the material, they remain stable and are released gradually as the plastic degrades, allowing them to continue breaking down microplastics in different environments like soil, fresh water and salt water.

Now developed into a working prototype, Eco Purge has already collaborated with researchers at Irish universities UCD Dublin and ATU Donegal in Letterkenny, as well as BiOrbic Bioeconomy Research Centre, where UCD’s School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences Professor, Kevin O’Connor, is director.

The seven winners represent the regions of North America, Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Oceania and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Each team receives $12,000 to develop and implement their idea for real-life impact. A public vote opens soon to crown the Global Winner on 29 May

While most solutions focus on reducing plastic use, Eco Purge goes a step further by helping clean up the tiny plastic particles that are already polluting oceans, soil, and even our food and water.

Arya explained: “Plastic pollution doesn’t just disappear; it breaks into tiny pieces that stay in our environment. I wanted to create something that could help tackle that problem directly. Eco Purge is designed to both replace plastic and help remove existing microplastics, and this is just the beginning, and I hope it can become a scalable solution that makes a real difference.”

Now in its fifth year, The Earth Prize has reached over 21,000 students across 169 countries and territories.

Previous winners have been featured in leading international media, including Forbes, Business Insider (US and Africa), The Irish Times, and UN Today, with several teams advancing their ideas through patents and corporate partnerships.

The Earth Prize is run by The Earth Foundation, a non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded during the School Strike for Climate in 2019.

At a time when climate anxiety affects a majority of young people – 59% reporting they are very or extremely worried about the environment – the prize provides a pathway from concern to action, equipping students with the tools to develop tangible, real-world solutions.

Public voting for the Global Winner opens on Monday, May 18, the day after the final Regional Winner is announced. Cast your vote on The Earth Prize website: www.theearthprize.org/vote.