Taradale High students win top award for fire lighter made from beeswax, sawdust

The clever invention and the winning Taradale High team during their final pitch at the regional final. Photo / Supplied

They say if you play with fire you get burned.

For a group of Taradale High School students behind a clever start-up business the opposite has been true.

The trio have come up with an award-winning invention - Kind Light - a fire lighter made out of waste products including sawdust, beeswax and orange peels.

The invention won the Young Enterprise (YES) regional final last week which included schools from across Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

The contest is held each year and invites schools to pitch their best inventions and business ideas.

Taradale High School's team of Oliver Kendall-Jackson, Fred Sugden and Emma Teraguchi, all 17, won the contest after wowing the judges.

"Trying to utilise waste products, we came up with fire starters," team member Sugden said, of their invention.

"We wanted to do something with sawdust and we had that readily available."

Emily Morgan and LJ Henderson-Ereatara from Karamu High, who finished runners-up. Photo/ Paul Taylor

After testing lots of different combinations, the trio found a winning formula - sawdust, beeswax and citrus peels for their fire lighters.

"We just did a lot of testing. Originally we were trying to do it with vegetable oil and sawdust but it was not working - it was ending up a biggy mushy clump.

"So we decided to change and investigate other ways and we found beeswax."

He said they sourced beeswax from a Wairoa candle maker, sawdust from Pan Pac in Napier, and citrus peels from a relative's orchard.

Sugden said after playing around with ratios, in a large pot in his family shed, the trio perfected the formula. The fire starters now last up to 15 minutes and take "about three or four" seconds to light, he claimed.

"We are planning to keep going with it ... we would like to expand and get into more retail stores."

The team will represent the region at the YES national final on December 15, which is being held online this year due to Covid.

"We would love to win a national award that would be absolutely amazing."

The two runner-up inventions were Blossom (Taradale High) and Wooly Bones (Karamu High).

To buy the Kind Light product, which includes 20 lighters for $9.50, head to The Art Shed in Bay View, Napier or go onto their website.