About the Project Inspiration We were inspired by two connected problems: the growing amount of plastic waste in our communities and the economic challenges faced by people who collect recyclable waste. We wanted to create a solution where plastic waste becomes a source of value and income, rather than simply becoming garbage.
What We Built We developed RecyPay, a smart plastic collection and reward system. Users can deposit recyclable plastic into the machine, where the system identifies the material, measures its weight, and calculates a corresponding reward.
The collected plastic can then be connected with recycling partners, creating a simple circular flow:
Plastic Waste → Collection → Reward → Recycling → Recovered Material
Our vision is to make recycling more accessible while creating an additional income opportunity for economically vulnerable waste collectors and community members.
🧠 What We Learned
Through this project, we learned that solving an environmental problem requires more than just technology. The solution must also consider user behavior, incentives, material quality, fraud prevention, recycling logistics, and economic sustainability.
We also explored how AI and automation can improve plastic identification, contamination detection, weight verification, and transaction tracking.
🛠️ How We Built It
Our prototype combines a physical collection-machine concept with a digital platform. The system is designed around:
- Plastic/material identification
- Weight measurement
- Reward calculation
- User and transaction management
- Collection tracking
- Recycling data
- Impact analytics
We designed the system so that the reward can be calculated transparently based on factors such as plastic type, weight, and material quality.
🚧 Challenges
One of our biggest challenges was designing a system that could distinguish recyclable materials reliably while preventing misuse. We also had to think about contamination, duplicate deposits, inaccurate measurements, fluctuating plastic values, and how collected material would reach legitimate recycling channels.
Another challenge was balancing social impact, environmental impact, and financial sustainability. We wanted the reward to be meaningful for the collector while ensuring that the overall recycling ecosystem remains viable.
🌍 Our Vision
RecyPay is more than a vending machine. We envision it as a circular-economy platform where every kilogram of recovered plastic can create measurable environmental and social value.
Our goal is simple:
Turn plastic waste into opportunity, reward the people who recover it, and give the material a second life.
Built With
- ai
- arduino
- circular
- computer-vision
- esp32
- fastapi
- hardware
- iot
- javascript
- machine-learning
- opencv
- python
- react
- recycling
- rest-api
- sensors
- sqlite
- sustainability
- tensorflow
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