Students from Scoil Mhuire, Trim were crowned National Champions of the Agri Aware and BiOrbic Environmental Innovators Transition Year Programme at the Bord Bia Global Hub in Dublin yesterday.
Students, C Duffy, H Mulligan and M Martin came out on top with their project on the reuse of baling twine. During the competition, the judges were impressed by the level of research and scientific analysis behind the project.
The girl’s project presented uses both in a farming and non-farming scenario.
In terms of an agricultural purpose, old baling twine could be used as a mat for livestock while a non-agricultural use was as home insulation to provide heat retention and reduce dampness.
The are washable and a low-cost reusable option and underwent a number of tests in the lab by the students and their teacher Ms Belynda Weldon.
The rollout of the programme for the second year running saw over 9,811 Transition Year students take part across 214 schools, which is up on the 8,100 students that participated in the programme last year.
Six top group finalists were chosen to attend the event at the Bord Bia Global Hub and showcase their idea to a number of leading agri-food stakeholders, giving them the opportunity to meet like-minded peers and to demonstrate their learning over the course of the programme.
Second place went to St Patricks Classical School, Navan for their project on Sustainable Equine Bedding.
Agri Aware Director Marcus O’Halloran said of the event: “The Environmental Innovators Peer Day is always a major highlight in the Agri Aware programmes calendar.
“This year’s Peer Day was no different, with six fantastic projects going head-to-head to be crowned the National Winner of the project. The variety and ingenuity amongst the projects was first class and made the job of picking a winner extremely difficult for our judges.
“Scoil Mhuire were worthy winners and a big congratulations to them and their teacher on their success. Lastly, many thanks to our partners BiOrbic and the supporting agrifood stakeholders who attended to mark the occasion and pick our National Winner for 2025.”
BiOrbic’s Executive Director Derek O’Brien added: “The quality of projects provided by the students this year was excellent, demonstrating innovative, practical and sustainable climate and circular bioeconomy solutions. Congratulations to the winners and participants from schools all around the country”
