Award-winning engineering student solution to benefit remote village

A group of first-year engineering students at Swinburne University of Technology have had their award-winning waste-to-resource solution implemented in a village in Timor-Leste. 

Students Atticus Booth, Chloe Lim, Jade Longmuir and Noah Battersby participated in the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Challenge in 2025, where students tackle challenges in communities from across the Asia-Pacific region. 

The head of Loidahar village in Timor-Leste, the 2025 challenge focus area, attended the EWB showcase event in late 2025 and has since chosen to implement the students’ solution in the community.

The group also won the Community Partner Award at the showcase event, given to the team whose project most strongly considers the village’s aspirations and meets the challenge’s themes. 

The team developed a briquette system using organic waste mixed with locally grown cassava starch and water, which are pressed with a specially designed press before drying.

These briquettes can then be burnt, providing a solution that manages household and agricultural organic waste while providing a fuel source for cooking. 

People in Loidahar village use wood fires for cooking, but new laws restrict cutting firewood; limited waste management options mean agricultural and household waste is also burnt.

Atticus Booth, one of the participating students, says the group felt their approach addressed the village’s needs and challenges quite well.  

“We were all quite surprised when we won at the conference, then we found out the village was actually implementing our idea and we didn’t expect it at all,” he says.

Their stall was also voted Best Stall for their working prototype, where attendees could make their own briquettes. The head of Loidahar village was even able to try the press himself at the event.

Associate Professor Scott Rayburg says the Swinburne challenge group was very successful. 

“This is a fantastic achievement for the team and demonstrates that students, even in first year, can have meaningful real-world impact,” he says.  

Fellow students Chloe Lim and Noah Battersby say that knowing their solution is being used is an honour. 

“We can look at this achievement later on and see the impact of how our ideas are actually being used,” Chloe says. 

“Sometimes there can be very fixed ideas in industry, but because we’re bringing fresh ideas, we can say ‘I want to do the impossible’ and then through our work it becomes possible,” Noah says.