Leaderboard of all students/faculty who recycled
get points for that or be entered into a raffle if product sponsored by company
First students tap their georgetown card, or enter id
option to use a voice assistant powered by gemini and 11labs
scan their product theyre recycling

Plastic Hero by TheFacebook

Plastic hero is an app that will be embedded on recycle bins across Georgetown campus to encourage students and faculty to recycle plastic waste properly. The MVP of this project incorporates a google image recognition model to identify plastic waste and provide points for the user. The special thing about this is companies that want to go green by promoting recycling can sponsor the app and provide rewards based on raffles or redemptions for users who accumulate points.

We also will place stickers across campus water fountains which say "As pure as the water you get from a bottle", or some other slogans which notify them that its not just tap water that they are getting from the purified water fountains, which seems to be a misconception we have found in a survey we conducted within the hackathon.

Challenges

Integrating the image recognition model with the app and ensuring it works accurately in real-time.
Designing an intuitive user interface that encourages engagement and makes recycling fun.
Setting up a backend system to track user points and manage rewards efficiently.
Working together finding a team haha (All of us were alone and found each other together after reaching the campus)

Future Improvements

Expanding the image recognition model to SPECIFICALLY recognize brands and helps them build a better brand image for themselves by encouraging recycling of their products.
Partnering with local businesses to offer a wider range of rewards and incentives for users.
Implementing social features to allow users to compete with friends and share their recycling achievements on social media. (instagram templates and rankings)

What we are proud of

We are proud of the MVP we were able to put together within time. We were able to integrate the image recognition model with the app and create a functional prototype that demonstrates the core concept of Plastic Hero. The user interface is designed to be engaging and user-friendly, making it easy for users to participate in recycling activities. Additionally, we have laid the groundwork for a backend system that can track user points and manage rewards, which can be further developed in future iterations of the app. It is not just an app, but an idea, we also thought about putting stickers across campus water fountains to encourage people to use them instead of buying bottled water, which is a great way to reduce plastic waste, which is a psychological nudge to help people make better choices.

Tracks

Georgetown Sustainability
Best use of Gemini & 11 Labs Not all apps need AI in them, so we thought alot, and came to a conclusion that AI should be used to improve accesibility as primary purpose of us as developers is to make sure the users get the best experience, and it is very necessary that we leverage AI to make our applications more accesible to the disabled population, as people with disabilities often seem to be overlooked during hackathons as we still dont see accecibilty as a primary objective. We have used gemini to help users with disability navigate our app using voice commands as well as 11labs for a more natural sounding voice.