UAE school pupils turn feathers into fertiliser as plans to combat waste take flight

Three UAE high school students have developed a novel way to transform discarded chicken feathers into biofertiliser, aiming to reduce agricultural waste and benefit farmers. Adit Mital, Anushka Harlalka, and Maanit Misra, all Year 13 pupils at Dubai International Academy, created BioFeathers, a process that employs bacteria to break down chicken feathers and convert them into useful nutrients for plants.

The students have tested their formulation on numerous farms and nurseries across the UAE, Oman, and India, involving more than 1,200 farmers in trials. The idea for the project originated from the students' shared interest in science and the potential to repurpose a material typically discarded as waste. They collected about 2kg of feathers from a poultry farm in Sharjah and began testing them in a laboratory.

The pupils reached out to academics through cold emails, eventually collaborating with researchers at the University of Sharjah. Through their experiments, the students created nine different nutrient-rich formulations that showed promising results in early trials, with some plant growth measurements up to 30 percent higher than commercial treatments.

Despite challenges, including limited laboratory access and delays in obtaining chemicals, the students persevered, adapting their methods and relying on support from their teachers, university researchers, and families. The project has been recognized with a provisional patent application, and the students plan to approach Dubai authorities to expand their initiative.

They estimate the cost to produce the raw formula to be under Dh1 per 100ml, making it an affordable and sustainable solution for farmers.