Two teenagers from Texas won $50,000 after developing a device designed to filter toxic microplastics from water.

Microplastics have been discovered almost everywhere scientists have looked, from the deepest ocean trenches to the summit of Mount Everest. Some studies estimate that people may inhale or consume the equivalent of about a credit card’s worth of plastic each week. These tiny plastic particles have also been detected in human blood, lungs, breast milk, and even testicular tissue.

High school students Victoria Ou and Justin Huang became interested in the issue after visiting a water treatment plant. During their visit, they learned that microplastics are currently not regulated in U.S. wastewater systems. They also discovered that existing removal methods often rely on chemical coagulants, which can alter water chemistry, physical filters that may clog, or biological processes that are not very efficient.

To address the problem, the students created a new device. Their prototype, roughly the size of a pen, uses ultrasonic sound waves to form a pressure barrier inside a small tube. As water flows through the device, high-frequency vibrations push microplastic particles backward, while allowing clean water to pass through.

During laboratory testing on common plastics such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyurethane, the device removed between 84% and 94% of microplastics in a single pass.

The technology is still in its early stages. While other research groups have studied the use of ultrasound to separate particles from water, Ou and Huang’s design aims to block and filter microplastics simultaneously in one step. Scaling the system for use in wastewater treatment facilities or household filtration systems will require further development.

Even so, the idea shows promise. If refined, ultrasonic filtration could provide a chemical-free method for reducing microplastic pollution, one of the most widespread environmental contaminants on the planet.

The plastic pollution problem is global, but innovative solutions can sometimes begin with small ideas.

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