It was on a regular day to school that 5-year-old student Shruti and Anjila of the Government Senior Secondary School in Yangang, South Sikkim, came across a drain in the neighbourhood. The sight of the mucky drain water flowing with all kinds of plastic, household waste and pollutants irked him.

When he became a part of the Atal Tinkering Lab, one of the first problems he wanted to address was cleaning drains.

Explaining the prototype of the project, Shruti says, “Our idea was to harness the energy of the flowing water in the drain in a manner that would filter the dumped waste. What we built is a turbine that rotates in the drain. The turbine is attached to a conveyor belt that helps collect waste and further push it into larger containers/waste bins.”

When asked about their experience working with ATL and interacting with experts, Shruti added, “When we first presented our project at the incubation centre, we received critical feedback from scientists and experts on how the mechanics could be improved to make the prototype effective. Thanks to the exposure that ATL provided we are now working on a new and improved model where we will also incorporate the use of solar panels and harness the power of the sun to increase the speed of the turbine.