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Tidy Kingston app on iPhone home screen
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Tidy Kingston logo
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App home screen
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Asks user for address to display correct information on when their garbage pickup day is
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Calendar that shows when the next garbage pickup day is for the user
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Allows user to search various items and displays the proper method of disposal
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Shows how many bags will be taken and allows user to purchase more digital garbage tags
Tidy Kingston
Tidy Kingston is an all-in-one waste management app for the city of Kingston. Many students of Queens and Kingston residents often produce more trash than the standard two bag limit. The current solution for disposing of extra bags are garbage tags, which take 3-5 business days to arrive in the mail. This system forces people to plan their garbage capacity in advance, which many busy residents may not take the time to consider. Thus, this system can lead to illegal dumping as residents refuse to wait a week with trash piling up in their home. As well, dumping may lead to residents ignoring recycling entirely as they would use public garbage bins for all their waste.
Often two bags are not large enough to contain the waste that residents are producing. This can lead to a pile up of cardboard boxes, waiting to be disposed of. This issue arises as many people tend to mass order off Amazon and are then left with numerous cardboard boxes and packaging. All these problems stem from an inefficient system for getting rid of excess trash.
Tidy Kingston provides a solution for this problem by simplifying the garbage tag system. The app will allow residents to buy additional garbage bags for weekly disposal. Additionally, they may pay for the disposal of larger unwanted items. This information will be automatically sent to the waste management company, and they will be able to identify which houses have paid for the disposal of extra bags. This system allows residents to alter the amount of garbage bags they want taken up until the morning of garbage day. Overall, it will allow residents to quickly and effectively dispose of all their excess trash and should lead to a decrease in illegal dumping.
When first entering the app, it prompts the user to enter their address. Once initialized, it will provide the user with a calendar date of their next garbage pickup. The calendar will also detail the types of garbage that will be accepted by the waste management company (garbage, blue box, green bin).
A waste lookup tab will allow the user to enter any specific item and the application will search through a database to find the proper method of disposal for said item. For example, if the user entered “newspaper”, the app would detail that it should be disposed in a blue box. For items that require complex waste disposal, such as batteries, the application can return the name and address of the nearby facility that accepts and treats the item.
An essential step in implementing the app is convincing the city of Kingston to accept Tidy Kingston for all waste management processes. Once this occurs, a “sister” application must be programed for the waste management side of the process. This app will indicate to the garbage truck drivers how many garbage bags are to be taken from each house. As well, they may be able to “check off” treated homes or streets as they progress through their route, effectively simplifying the process.
Sample code to find users garbage day based on input of postal code is provided is in the Git Hub link provided.
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