Tamil Nadu: 9-yr-old girl makes homemade, eco-friendly mosquito trap using old tyres

Indira Arjun, a nine-year-old girl from Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu has developed a homemade trap for mosquitos using the concept of Ovillantas. The process is simple, cost effective and eco-friendly and can be made at home. In a video posted on YouTube, Indira said that the trap is made up of old and used tyres and it destroys the eggs of mosquitoes that transmit dengue, chikungunya, zika virus. Indira gave a step-by-step guide of how she made the cost effective mosquito trap. To make the trap, she used a 13 inch old tyre, a hanger, a 1-inch PVC pipe, silicone glue, ball valve, PVC glue, filter paper, a 2 litre bottle filled with water, a cutting blade and a magnifying glass. In order to make the mosquito traps, one has to cut the 13-inch old tyre into two sections and make a 1-inch hole at the bottom of it. “Now, attach the PVC pipe on the hole with the silicone glue,” Indira said. “On the open end of the pipe, fix a ball valve. Hang the tyre using hanger. She then poured 2-litre water in the tyre structures and has put filter paper on both the sides which act as landing strips for mosquitoes that see water and fly down to lay their eggs in it. The mosquito larvae will also float on the water,” she said. The mosquito trap can be hung from walls or in gardens anywhere inside or outside houses for about three days. After the insects are stuck there, the ball valve can be used to drain out the water from the surface and the insects as well as their eggs can be destroyed using chlorine solution.

The concept of Ovillanta is commonly used in Mexican villages. The word Ovillanta comes from the combination of Latin and Spanish words. The concept of Ovillanta was invented by Gerard Ulibarri, a chemistry professor at Laurentian University in Ontario. The invention was made by him almost by accident.