About the project

Inspiration

We were inspired by the increasing urge to democratize sustainability and make it engaging for all. This gave us the initiative to invent a tool that encourages environment-friendly behavior and makes it easy to take little actions with large impacts.

What it does

Ecopath is an AI-driven application that assists in waste sorting, rating the quality of recycling and bins,, and tracking eco-friendly travel. Users collect Ecopoints for green actions redeemable to personalize a virtual garden. It also connects users with local sustainability events.

How we built it

We combined tools for AI and machine learning-based image recognition with web development tools to build an intuitive user interface in Ecopath. We have integrated a point system with location tracking into our design to increase the level of engagement and impact. We used Python, HTML, CSS3, and Javascript

Challenges we ran into

One of the largest challenges was merging the backend to the frontend, as it was super unnecessarily complicated and confusing bugs kept popping up. We also faced some challenges in adding all those different features—like the eco-point tracker and event linking—to flow together seamlessly.

Things we're proud of having pulled off:

We are proud of having successfully developed an AI web app capable of reliably sorting and rating waste and the overall user experience that we created. Integration with Ecopoints and a virtual garden feature adds a touch of unique gamification, encouraging sustainable behavior.

What we learned

The complexities of building an app and training an AI—were some of the most valuable learning points we picked up during our project. We also got experience in balancing user engagement against environmental impact.

What is next for the Ecopath Web App

We shall be improving the AI so that it produces more accurate results. We will also be further developing the virtual garden, where you are able to plant and grow plants, and also adding more ways for which you can earn Ecopoints. We are also looking to work with local environmental organizations to develop the app for community impact. Hopefully, we can release Ecopath into the real world one day!