Each year nearly 1.2 million tonnes of plastic end up in landfills, and around 0.6 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean. Surprisingly, the majority of the plastic that ends up in landfills and oceans comes from littering plastic in public. But why do people litter in public places 1.) Herd mentality - if other people are throwing in the road, so can I 2.) Lack of motivation - there is no motivating factor that pushed the user to go to the dustbin when he can just throw plastic anywhere 3.) Habit of unhygienic - Indian do have the habit of being unhygienic, so we need to change it too 4.) Lack of awareness regarding environmental issues. 5.) No community – No proper community to conduct cleaning campaigns, report illegal dumps, pressure the municipality or the local government. No matter how many laws or provisions we bring, if people willn't change, the problem will never be solved.
Our solution/product is an android application named Pfree. Pfree is a software solution. All that is needed is to download the app from the play store. Whenever anyone notices dry plastic waste like wrappers, plastic bottles, or polythenes in places other than dustbins, they need to open the app. Pfree will show the user's current location and the location of nearby dustbins (government-made/Public). The user needs to pick up the plastic item and go within the 5 Meter radius ( geofence ) of the dustbin, allowing the user to scan the barcode through our app and then throw it into the dustbin. Plastic wrappers ( chips/chocolate wrappers) are BOPP-type plastic that is non-recyclable, non-reusable and the only option is proper disposal. After every successful scan, the user will have a surprise reward waiting! (in cash or coupons). The more a user scans, the more profit they will get. This reward system ensures that the audience is engaging consistently in cleanliness activities. Also, we have a community feature where users of a locality can communicate/chat through pfree and plan cleaning events, report illegal dumps, etc.
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