Hughes’s entry had already clinched the top prize in the UK awards, but on Thursday it was announced that it had beaten 1,078 others from 28 different countries.

The annual award scheme is run by the James Dyson Foundation, designer Sir James Dyson’s charitable trust. It challenges young people to “design something that solves a problem” and is open to students and recent graduates in product design, industrial design and engineering.

Dyson said: “Young engineers have the passion, awareness and intelligence to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Ultimately, we decided to pick the idea the world could least do without. MarinaTex elegantly solves two problems: the ubiquity of single-use plastic and fish waste.”

The winning product is translucent and strong, making it suitable for single-use packaging such as sandwich wrappers and bags, and will break down in home compost or food waste bins within four to six weeks.