R3Plastic

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Home Page
Chat Bot Page
Register Page
FAQ Page
About Us Page

Inspiration

Our inspiration for this project was the fact that we wanted to take a stance against climate change and reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible. We also felt as if we could not only clean up the natural environment but help those in need around us. So we tried our best to combine these topics into one project.

What it does

Our idea was to collect everyday recyclables that people would normally throw out and repurpose those plastics to create essential items for those in need, such as shoes. One aspect of the site is a chatbot which allows people to learn about items that are recyclable and ensure that they are providing us with plastics that can be properly repurposed. The main purpose of our site is for people to sign up to be part of our collection list. Once a person is registered into the system, the company would go to their address and collect all recyclables that could be repurposed. Once all the recyclable plastics are done, they would bring them back to the headquarters where they can be reused for other items.

How we built it

We built this site using a MERN stack. This includes technologies such as React for the front end, express.js and Node.js for the back end and MongoDB for the database where we store our user information. We also used the Cohere API in order to create our Chat Bot.

Challenges we ran into

While creating the site, there were many hurdles that we had to overcome. Some of these included familiarizing ourselves with technologies we weren't as familiar with, including (primarily relating to the backend of our full-stack application), NodeJS, ExpressJS, and for the front-end, TailwindCSS. Another one was having sufficient time in implementing the ideas, for which we had to pivot, and adjust to deliver our high-quality project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we managed to complete a full-stack application that uses both a database and API in less than 2 days.

What we learned

Through making this project we each acquired many different skills. When it comes to the front end we learned how to make a good-looking and engaging UI using React and TailwindCSS, which was something we hadn't fully had a grasp of. When it comes to the backend we learned a lot about REST APIs and how to create them. We not only learned about creating APIs, but also using them to create new standalone applications.