Waste Not, Worry Not

Waste Not, Worry Not: Your Recycling Companion

Comment

Inspiration

Each year, the US dumps hundreds of millions of tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills, much of which could be diverted to proper disposal channels. As of 2018, food comprised the largest component of MSW with 24% and plastics acccounted for another 18%. 1

In an effort to divert so much waste to landfills, we encourage US residents to use our platform to answer whether their waste could be disposed through alternative methods.

What it does

After a user registers to our platform with their zip code, they are able to choose from a series of widgets or input the material they want to dispose of. Based on their input, we access a trained model that tells us whether the material can be recycled or composted following up with recommendations of local drop off centers or online resources.

How we built it

Using Figma, we built wireframes that were then developed into a website using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. We trained a classification model to tell a user whether their disposable is actually recyclable or not.

Challenges we ran into

We struggled to find expansive datasets to train the models, but used city-specific open source data for training purposes. Secondly, we ran out of time to connect expansive resources to the results page giving additional relevant info.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our team is proud of building a static application from scratch and utilizing new tools such as Firebase and Figma as well as training the model with high accuracy.

What we learned

Not only did we learn more about the expansive resources and efforts to divert waste to landfills, we also gained insight to the full-stack development of a web app and the endless possibilities to connect APIs, databases, and user interaction.

What's next for Waste Not, Worry Not

After implementing more resources to the results page and incorporating better recommendations with more trained models, we would also like to add security elements for users. We encourage users to divert their own waste and reference our web app for guidance!

Built With

Share this project:

Updates