Recyclathon App - Nap

An app that allows Angelenos to know what they can recycle and where, plus the monetary value they can get back.

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Inspiration

Contamination from Household Hazardous Waste in our recycling bins has been on the rise in Los Angeles since 2013. Most significantly, e-waste. E-waste accounts for over half of the 10,000,000 plus of all HHW in LA.

Our neighborhoods have an ~30% average level of contamination in our blue bins. Just to highlight, South LA alone has a 42% level of contamination in their blue bins. If we take a deeper look into South LA, it's also the residential area with the lowest income per household, according to the LA times.

If only they knew that e-waste has so much monetary value. Oh, you didn't know either?

Based on e-waste disposal rates, Americans throw out phones containing over $60 million in gold and/or silver every year. Only 12.5% of e-waste is recycled though, according to the EPA.

So how might we educate citizens on the value their recyclable items have? And how might we help citizens know what they can recycle and where?

The Solution

An app that allows Angelenos to know what they can recycle and where, plus the monetary value they can get back.

Features such as Searching for specific items or even scanning a barcode to find items faster. The ability to see nearby recycling centers for specific items and learning about the average value you can get back from an item. Lastly, being able to see just how much you've earned from recycling by logging and keeping record of you recycling activity.

My hypothesis is that if we provide Angelenos a tool to find the right recycling center for their items, they will become better recyclers. Also, by showing them the potential value they can get back and reminding them how much they’ve earned over time, that they will be motivated to continue recycling the right way. Hopefully, no more televisions on street curbs.

How it can be built

There's an available API from earth911 that provides data on recycling centers for all kinds of items. Would need help from an iOS developer to build this. Still need to do research on where to pull average trade-in credits from. For barcode scanning, there's also available APIs for this data.

Built With

  • ui-kits
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