Regional students win WA youth innovator award for e-waste

Agni Renewables has won the Western Australia Youth Innovator of the Year award, sharing the honour with CoolaBee.

The Mandurah-based group comes from Comet Bay College and includes participants from GoSH, a regional technology education initiative founded by teacher Michelle Wong. Their project focuses on recovering aluminium from electronic waste and converting it into high-purity alumina.

Electronic waste contains valuable metals, but separating aluminium from plastics, adhesives and other mixed materials is difficult. The team said its process uses gallium to separate the aluminium, with the gallium then recovered and reused in a closed-loop system.

The aim is to improve aluminium recovery from discarded electronics, reduce the loss of useful materials and support a more circular approach to recycling. High-purity alumina is used in a range of industrial applications.

The award is a notable result for a team from a state school in regional Western Australia. Comet Bay College is based in Mandurah, and the project was first developed through a GoSHackathon program designed to give regional students exposure to technology and innovation.

Agni Renewables is led by students Natalie Coutinho and Logan Tolic. Coutinho, a Year 10 student at Comet Bay College, is described as the founder of Agni Renewables. She previously won Best Innovation at GoSH in 2025, as well as a People's Choice award at the West Tech Fest Youth Entrepreneur Showcase.

Tolic, 15, has focused on chemical engineering and completed Curtin University's Calculus-1014 while still at school. He and Coutinho developed what is described as a hydrometallurgical polygeneration model for upcycling aluminium scrap into commercial-grade 5N alumina.

The recognition places the students among a small group of young innovators receiving statewide attention for technical work emerging from regional programs. It also highlights growing interest in recycling technologies that target hard-to-process waste streams such as discarded electronics.

Regional pathway

Wong set up GoSH to create opportunities for children in regional areas to engage with technology. According to the information provided, the program has involved thousands of students across Peel, the Mid West and the South West.

One member of the winning team, Aaliyah Nestoridis, is identified as GoSH's Indigenous Youth Ambassador through Karla Koort Boodja. Images released with the announcement also name Tash Teakle, a GoSH mentor from Agristart, as part of the wider support network around the students.

The result stands out because awards of this kind often go to students from schools with stronger resources and established innovation programs. Here, judges recognised a project developed by students from a public school in Mandurah with support from a community-based initiative.

Waste challenge

The project addresses a growing waste problem as electronic devices are discarded in increasing volumes. Recovering metals from this waste can be commercially and technically difficult because components are tightly combined and often contaminated by other materials.

By targeting aluminium recovery and converting it into high-purity alumina, the team has focused on a material stream that may hold more value than low-grade scrap. The closed-loop gallium recovery process is intended to avoid losing the assisting material during treatment.

The students' work has already drawn attention beyond school-based competitions. According to material released with the award announcement, Tolic has also represented regional youth at the IIF conference.

Wong founded GoSH as a volunteer-led effort focused on opening pathways for students who may not otherwise have access to the same facilities or networks as metropolitan or private school peers. The award for Agni Renewables underlines that approach, with a regional team turning an idea from a hackathon into a state-recognised recycling project.

The team members named in the material were Logan Tolic, Aaliyah Nestoridis and Natalie Coutinho.