Inspiration
So many companies have policies about throwing away excess food at the end of a work day. That is unacceptable. We wanted to take that excess food and use it to fill peoples' stomachs instead of having it fill landfills.
What it does
This app has three key components. It's main component is through its shopping platform, where users can connect with farmers and grocers for them to list their excess food and for people to buy it. We used a tiered auctioning system in which people are separated by income level so that they are able to buy goods proportional to what they can afford. We also included a carbon footprint tracker, so that users would be able to see how much they are benefitting the environment through every purchase that they make.
How we built it
We built this program using React for the front-end development, Node.js and npm for the back-end development and package management, and finally used the Wolfram language for computational tasks.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges that we had by far was the issue of communication. We came from across 4 time zones, so meeting up was virtually out of the question. We had to work around this issue, finding ways to optimize the small time that we had in texting each other over Discord.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of how we were able to surmount that hurdle, and learn an entirely new programming language to the four of us. That was something impressive that we were surprised that we were able to pull off, and the app looks that much better for it.
What we learned
We learned the true value of communication and working together. We also learned how much we can get done if we are dedicated and focused on our goal.
What's next for WasteNaught
Upscaling. We want to take WasteNaught to the next level, connecting our underserved communities to anyone from local farmers to large grocery chains. Through more connections, we can reduce our prices even further, helping people support their families through times of need at little to no cost to the people who supply us with our goods.
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