Treeco

Overview of the app

Inspiration

About 91% of the world’s recycled goods end up in the trash and this is a big issue. Therefore, we decided to take inspiration from the world’s biggest recyclers, Germany. In this country, people are incentivized to recycle as it ‘pays’ off. For instance, bottles have a deposit that you can claim after returning them which encourages people to recycle. In turn, this inspired us to create Treeco.

What it does

Treeco encourages consumers to recycle products through its interactive features. It helps them sort their waste and directs them to the closest location to dispose of them. Furthermore, as a reward, the users can collect points and claim rewards on the app. We found that having a fun rewards system can motivate a lot of people to start recycling their products.

How we built it

We built a prototype of this app through a website called proto.io. The website helped us set up the layout of the app that we wanted.

Challenges we ran into

Implementing a feasible idea was a bit challenging at the start. We were not sure how to confirm that the users actually brought their products in for recycling, however, we came up with a solution which is to allow them to log in to the app at the site of recycling as claim their points there.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Since this is the first hackathon for most of us, we’re proud to be able to come up with an idea and implement it. It was difficult to brainstorm for an idea but talked it out and came up with one that all of us were extremely happy with. Seeing the final design of the app also felt amazing and we are very happy with how it looks.

What we learned

UI design is something that all of us are not familiar with. Therefore, this opportunity taught us about the importance of app design and how many decisions go into its design. For example, something as simple as the colour scheme plays an important factor in how a consumer views an app.

What's next for Treeco

In the coming updates for Treeco, we would like to implement more customization features as well as a community tab that connects the users together and allows them to see each others’ achievements. Furthermore, a tracker would make the user’s experience more involved in the recycling process as they can see where their waste is headed. In the future, we hope to see Treeco evolve into a fundamental part of every Canadian community.