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Geco: a step towards a greener tomorrow

What does Geco Do?

Geco is a mobile application created with the intention of aiding and guiding users through the process of waste disposal. This app is capable of logging and recording the bags of trash, recycling, and compostables thrown out by the user over time, displaying this data on a calendar that shows the dates they were thrown out, as well as on two graphs. The pie chart displays the total about of trash, recycling, and compost thrown out in a specified interval, whereas the line graph will display the trends of disposal. The app can also provide recommendations for items that are scanned by the app, using AI that recognizes the items in an image captured by the phone's camera, or a photo uploaded to the app.

Inspiration

Unfortunate as it may be, the average person does not have the time or energy to care about sorting between garbage, recycling, and compost. Oftentimes people are too busy to properly consider where they should dispose of items, and what damage that can have on the environment. This app was created with the aim of making users' commitments to the planet and its health easier, as well as allow users to both see the impact of their actions, and promote users to think more about the environment.

How was Geco Built?

Geco was mainly built on Expo, using javascript and react-native to render and run the mobile app. An async storage is used to store the database, and an AI trained with image-recognition was used to scan and recognize items in an uploaded image or photo taken through the app.

Challenges

The main challenge we faced was the AI server, as although we used one that had already been trained to recognize images, the short duration of this hackaton made it difficult to properly train it to the specifications we desired, specifically to recognize and filter items between recyclable, compostable, and waste products.

Accomplishments We're Proud of

We are all very proud of our ability to create this app in such a demanding time frame, as two days for a functional app is a difficult task. As well, we can be proud of the new technologies we have learned in the process of this hackaton, as a lot of research and implementation when into this project. Last of all, the opportunity to think about and contribute to the health of the planet, spreading awareness, and providing useful, implementable solutions in the fight against global warming and climate change is something for all of us to be proud of.

What We Learned

This experience provided us the chance to build an app through react-native, which we were previously unfamilar with. As well, it was also our first experience with machine learning and image recognition AI, making it a valuable period for growth.

What's Next for Geco?

The goal for the future of this app is to connect images to the AI server, such that the items in the picture can be recognized and properly sorted. This involves training the AI dataset to recognize different materials, such as platics, metals, and glass for recycling, or produce and yard materials for compost.