WasteWise

WasteWise is a gamified waste-management platform that lets users schedule pickups, get AI route help, track impact, and earn rewards while helping cities cut waste and emissions.

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Inspiration

Waste disposal in india is still fragmented, manual, and hard to act on consistently. People want to do the right thing, but the process is often inconvenient and unrewarding. WasteWise was built to remove that friction by turning waste management into a guided, measurable, and motivating experience.

What it does

WasteWise helps users identify waste, schedule pickups on a map, and track the environmental impact of every action they take. It uses AI to assist with waste categorization, suggests cleaner routes, records CO2 savings, and adds gamification through XP, ranks, and leaderboards. For administrators, it provides a control panel to manage pickups, users, and feedback in one place.

How we built it

We built WasteWise as a full-stack MERN application: Frontend: React, Vite, TailwindCSS, Framer Motion, Leaflet Backend: Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Mongoose Authentication: JWT and Google OAuth AI: Gemini-powered EcoBot for waste guidance and category help Notifications: Nodemailer for pickup status updates

Challenges we ran into

Some of the main challenges were: Connecting the map-based pickup flow with backend storage Making AI responses useful for waste categorization Keeping authentication secure across normal login and Google sign-in Designing an admin dashboard that is both functional and easy to understand Balancing a clean UI with a gamified feel

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

Through building WasteWise, we learned how to: Structure and connect a full-stack MERN project Build secure authentication with roles and OAuth Integrate maps, AI APIs, and email notifications into one workflow Design a user experience that encourages repeated engagement Turn a serious problem into a product that feels approachable

What's next for WasteWise

Next, we want to make WasteWise even more useful in real-world deployment. That includes real-time pickup tracking, smarter route optimization, a reward system for sustainable action, mobile support, and stronger analytics for measuring environmental impact over time.

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