Orange High School Year 8 students Samuel Cox, Josh Dolle, Harrison Miller, Patrick Naidoo and Emmanuel Peter won the secondary school prize in the "Create" stream of the Department of Education's Game Changer Challenge by coming up with a water saving device for a washing machine.

The filtration device, which they named The Water Warrior, enables water to be reused up to 10 times.

"Water is wasted on a daily basis, with the biggest culprit being washing machines. Many use 120 litres per wash," Josh said.

The team set about designing a filtration tank which would allow the same water to be reused for up to 10 loads of laundry before being released into a grey water system.

Using CAD (computer-aided design) software to develop models, the team is confident their closed loop system has real-world application.

"The response in the local community has been positive with almost everyone we spoke to wanting to implement it," Josh said.

Designed to encourage students to develop critical and reflective thinking skills while collaborating in a team by solving a real-world 'wicked' problem, The Game Changer Challenge this year saw almost 400 teams of students participate.

They were asked to tackle the problem of humans having unlimited needs, but the planet having limited capacity to satisfy them.

Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, Sarah Mitchell congratulated the boys for their originality and innovation, describing them as "role models in their school and community."

"With their creativity and enthusiasm for sustainability, I have no doubt our future is in safe hands.

"They've embraced the design thinking and future-focused skills that have enabled them to become creative problem solvers and I can't wait to see the impact their creativity brings in years to come," she said.

The other winning teams were: Armidale Secondary College for an innovative environmental education program; Jerrabomberra Public School for reducing single use plastic at their school and Nowra Public School for recycling clothes to provide dignity by replacing bibs for people with disabilities.

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