Soteria

Inspiration

Our team noticed that at various RPI "tech dump" sites, there was purposefully destroyed electronics and computing equipment. We found many cases of obviously destroyed computers, motherboards, and RAM sticks. Our aim was to reduce this unnecessary waste by providing a system for users with e-waste to connect with other users and facilitate an exchange of electronics instead of simply placing it in a bin.

What it does

Our web app allows users to log in to an account affiliated with the college or university they attend, and create posts with items that they may wish to dispose of. Posts contain a location, date, and start and end pickup times. Other users can view these posts and then arrive at the specified location to pick up the unneeded item, avoiding placing it in an e-waste bin or potentially damaging the item.

How we built it

We built our web application using Google Firebase, and used the React library with the Next.js framework. We also used TailwindCSS and Sass for styling our pages.

Challenges we ran into

We had issues with the way React renders images, and when it refreshes the page. This cost several hours of debugging, and eventually we found that we needed to perform appends to our array of images in a specific way to solve this issue.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our investigation, our idea, and our dedication to sustainability and reducing e-waste. We also take pride in our user interface and the professionalism in the appearance of our web app.

What we learned

We learned about the way that React renders certain components, and we also learned about the features that Google Firebase offers for building web apps.

What's next for Soteria

We plan to deploy Soteria for use on the RPI campus, to help solve the e-waste problems that we first observed. If this goes well, we may offer this as a service for other schools.