Recycling encouragement web-app

Submission for HEX Genius hackathon 2023 for the theme “Smart Cities”. I was the team lead and divided tasks based on each member’s specialty as follows:

• Krishna & Susmita: Research; Writing HTML, website content & documentation
• Sagun: Overall design & CSS
• Me: Creating a basic database & user account system with vanilla PHP

You can find their github profiles by hovering over the ‘Team Project’ button under the headline

Description

Our web app aims to promote a recycling habit among people. Users create accounts & can bring recyclable waste/ materials to a nearby recycling station. There, an operator will record it digitally & add reward points to the user's account. Reward points are calculated based on the material category & it’s weight Users can exchange these reward points for recycled products such as notebooks, dustbins, manure etc.

These products are recycled by workers at the recycling station. Each product is worth some amount of reward points based on its perceived value & can be sold for real money to generate revenue for the station as well.

Features

Users can:

• register & login
• view reward points & rewards they can currently afford to exchange
• view nearby recycle stations

Recycle station operators can:

• log/ record recycles for data-keeping
• add reward points when recycled & deduct when redeemed

Novelty: What makes our project unique

• The reward point system is meant to gamify the recycling process.

  • Users are provided return value in the form of tangible, useful products & thus, will want to recycle more.

• Special events can also be held to further boost user engagement.

  • One such example would be to host competition where users have to recycle a minimum amount in order to participate.
  • Random users are then selected to give prizes to.

• Employment opportunities for involved personnel (operators, workers that make recycled products, waste collectors)

• Collected data can be aggregated & analyzed to gain insight regarding wastage amount, recycling habits.

  • Historical data can also be used to gague impacts of awareness campaigns, workshops on recycling trends.

Screenshots