Eco Runway

Eco Runway helps you recycle smarter, save money, and find eco-friendly alternatives in India. Scan items, get recycling guidance, track your Eco Score, and make a real impact—one choice at a time.

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Inspiration

In Costa Rica, an orange juice company dumped 12,000 tonnes of orange peels onto a barren pasture ,waste that would’ve gone to landfills. Sixteen years later, that dead land had transformed into a thriving forest, with 176% more biomass, richer soil, and revived biodiversity. This simple act proved that even “waste” can spark powerful environmental change. Eco Runway was inspired by this miracle built to help people make small, smart recycling choices that create their own echo impact, one action at a time.

What it does

Eco Runway helps users: • Scan items using OCR or barcode to identify recyclability • Get clear recycling instructions based on material • Discover nearby recycling centers • See eco-friendly & cheaper alternatives available in India (₹) • Track their Eco Score and Recycling Score • Earn rewards and climb a leaderboard • Chat with an AI-powered Eco Chatbot for questions • Learn through random eco-facts every time the app opens

How we built it

We built Eco Runway using the Base44 platform, allowing rapid, AI-assisted app development. Key components include: • OCR + barcode scanning • Eco Score engine • Indian e-commerce price integration (₹) • Geolocation-based recycling center finder • AI chatbot for recycling discussions • Random fact generator • User leaderboard with a weighted ranking formula: $$ \text{Rank Score} = 0.6 \times \text{Eco Score} + 0.4 \times \text{Recycling Score} $$ • Dynamic dashboards & data visualization

APIs were connected through Base44’s environment variable system.

Challenges we ran into

• Indian-priced alternatives defaulting to USD and requiring localized filtering
• OCR inaccuracies with Indian receipts (varied formats, low contrast)
• Limited credits → optimizing prompts to avoid re-runs
• Integrating multiple features inside a single device workflow
• Creating a clean UI while balancing many complex features

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Built a fully working sustainability assistant within hackathon constraints
• Successfully combined recycling education + cost savings
• Designed a robust Eco Score + Recycling Score model
• Implemented India-specific eco alternatives, a feature missing in many apps
• Created a smooth user flow, intuitive UI, and strong feature stack

Most importantly, we built something that can genuinely improve people’s daily habits.

What we learned

• How to optimize Base44 prompting with limited credits
• Deep insights into India’s recycling ecosystem
• The importance of simple UX when teaching sustainability
• How to design AI systems that give trustworthy recommendations
• The value of making sustainability both fun and rewarding

What's next for Untitled

• Partnering with real recycling centers to provide verified drop-off points
• Adding carbon footprint calculators for scanned items
• Creating a social feed for eco challenges and community engagement
• Introducing gamified streaks, badges, and weekly eco missions
• Crowdsourcing recycling data to improve accuracy over time
• Chrome extension for scanning online products for eco alternatives

Eco Runway is just getting started and we’re ready to scale it into a lifestyle app that makes sustainability effortless for everyone.

Built With

  • base44
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