EcoGo

Inspiration

Have you ever pondered the potential environmental consequences of your everyday household items? Products that appear innocuous might harbor ingredients that could be harmful to the environment. As awareness of this matter increases, individuals may aspire to make well-informed decisions but often face constraints such as limited time and a lack of dependable sources for conducting in-depth analyses of their consumption patterns' impact on the environment. Consequently, a significant challenge emerges in providing timely, trustworthy, and convenient access to information that enables individuals to make informed and environmentally conscious decisions.

What it does

We've devised a solution to furnish individuals with an empowering platform for evaluating and comprehending the environmental risks associated with their choices. Consequently, they can make informed and sustainable decisions to avert harm to the environment. Our application is crafted to assist individuals in making informed and environmentally conscientious choices by offering convenient access to information regarding the impact of household product ingredients on the environment.

Our app mainly aims to contribute towards the 12th United Nations Sustainable Development Goal which is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. We are making it possible for consumers to make informed choices, which in turn ensures sustainable consumption.

How we built it

Users can download the app on their mobile devices, select a product category, and inquire about any product using a swift barcode scan or textual search to understand its ecological footprint.
The application links to the cloud and initiates an API call to retrieve the specified product. It then conducts a database query in Firebase. If product details are absent, an API call to the trained model deployed on Google Cloud is executed, and the outcomes are stored in the Firestore Database.
Following the retrieval of results, users are directed to the analysis screen, showcasing the product's overall, aquatic, and environmental impact.
Users have the option to explore individual tabs to delve deeper into the impact of each ingredient.
In the "Similar Products" tab, users can explore alternatives for the searched product, enabling them to opt for a product with a reduced environmental impact if they so choose.

Challenges we ran into

While developing our code, a significant challenge emerged in deploying our API on Google Cloud. Initially, we opted to deploy the Flask API on Google Cloud App Engine. Although the app was operational, we encountered challenges prompting a reassessment of our system design. Firstly, the fixed infrastructure of Compute Engine posed difficulties in scaling, hindering efficient resource utilization. Secondly, conflicts between different parts of the application resulted in sluggish performance.

To address these issues, we made several technical decisions and implementations that led us to discover Google Cloud Run. This platform offered enhanced flexibility and scalability compared to Google Cloud App Engine. The deployment process and scaling on Cloud Run facilitated efficient resource utilization. Deploying the Flask API as a container granted us greater control over its runtime environment. Containers, being isolated and self-contained, minimized the risk of conflicts with other applications and ensured consistency across diverse deployment environments. Recognizing the advantages of containerization, we acknowledged its role in facilitating easier maintenance and updates for the Flask API. Changes to the API could be seamlessly made to the container without affecting other components of the application.

Additionally, we refined our container deployment process by adjusting configurations to align with our API requirements. This involved optimizing the container image size to enhance performance and utilizing Google Cloud's container debugging tools for issue diagnosis and resolution. These modifications enabled us to effectively manage and deploy containers in a scalable, highly available, and secure environment, addressing performance concerns and enhancing the API's reliability.

Appreciating the merits of this novel approach, we chose to transition our app from Compute Engine to Cloud Run. The migration process was smooth, yielding immediate improvements in both performance and scalability.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Enhanced Awareness: The application aims to enlighten individuals about the implications of the ingredients in their utilized products, resulting in heightened awareness of the environmental consequences tied to their choices. This increased awareness empowers consumers to make more informed decisions, favoring products with environmentally friendly ingredients.
Diminished Environmental Footprint: As more individuals opt for environmentally conscious choices, there will be a decrease in the environmental impact associated with the products they use, contributing to a healthier and more sustainable planet.
Influencing Manufacturers: The growing number of consumers choosing environmentally friendly options exerts pressure on manufacturers to shift towards producing products with more sustainable ingredients. This pressure encourages a transition to environmentally friendly production practices.

In summary, the application is poised to positively impact the environment by fostering awareness, encouraging improved consumer choices, diminishing the environmental footprint of products, and compelling manufacturers to adopt more sustainable practices.

What we learned

Throughout the hackathon, we acquired a profound understanding of the synergy between collaboration and innovation. Our realization extended to the harmonious integration of diverse skill sets to tackle intricate challenges, emphasizing the rapid evolution of ideas and the pivotal role of creativity in overcoming obstacles. Valuable insights were also gained regarding the effective management of time, adeptly navigating unforeseen issues, and the crucial role of feedback in honing our solutions. Above all, the experience underscored the necessity of maintaining a pragmatic perspective on our code, consistently evaluating our system design, and remaining receptive to novel approaches. This mindset positions us to construct superior, more streamlined, scalable, and cost-effective applications by embracing emerging technologies and architectures.

In essence, our journey illuminated the boundless possibilities achievable through passion and a united objective.

What's next for EcoGo

Extend our app to include various types of products over various categories.
Improve the performance of the trained model by training over various datasets and improving its architecture.