E-Cig Disposal Config

Inspiration

I noticed there was a service with which people could recycle cigarette butts, but nothing of the sort for e-cigs. Additionally, most people don’t seem to know how to safely get rid of their e-cigarette waste such as Juul pods and vape pens.

According to hazardouswasteexperts.com, "Conventional cigarette butts comprise approximately 38 percent of litter worldwide; and conventional cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, which takes about 12 years to biodegrade into its more ecologically benign constituents. So e-cigarettes are doubtless more eco-friendly than their conventional counterparts. But two “vape” components—the cartridge and the lithium ion battery—require hazardous waste removal.”

What it does

E-cig users have plenty of resources that they can use to find out why e-cigs are bad for their health and how to quit. The purpose of this app is specifically to help with e-cig waste disposal.

This app provides tutorials on how to prepare the e-cigs for disposal and uses Google Maps to show the nearest household hazardous waste (HHW) disposal center to them.

Installation

Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/abigailnacional/touch-grass.git
Navigate to the folder
cd ecigdisposalconfig
Run install.sh by dragging the file into your terminal.

Run the following commands in your terminal.

export FLASK_ENV=‘development’
flask run

Type "localhost:5000" into your browser's URL bar and press enter.

How we built it

I used Flask for the web app framework and Google Maps API to find the nearest Household Hazardous Waste center to a certain location. I also registered the domain ecigdisposalconfig.tech with Domain.com.

Challenges we ran into

I had never used Google Maps API before, so I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to make it work with Flask.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I managed to get the map to render, even if I wasn't able to actually use it to find nearby HHW centers.

What we learned

I learned how to integrate Google Maps API with Flask.

What's next for E-Cig Disposal Config

I want to make the actual web app functional--users should be able to input their location (probably zip code or city/state) and find the nearest HHW center to them. It would also be great if they were able to contact or call HHW centers through the site.