8 October 2026

Congratulations to Dean Weich and Milo Bonadei on winning two awards at the 2026 ISF International Science Fair in Johannesburg last week!
Their project, “A novel method of repurposing PLA to enhance sustainable bioplastics,” created a practical new natural composite. They cooked corn starch and glycerine into a putty-like base, then melted leftover PLA 3D-printer filament into the mix. The result is a natural material with a lower melting point than standard PLA that proved strong under testing and suitable for a range of applications.
This earned them: 

• A Silver Medal 
• The Shanice Francis Memorial Award in Chemistry
• A R5 000 cash prize