wastewise

WasteWise uses AI to identify, verify, and reward proper waste disposal, turning trash into impact through smart classification, community engagement, and gamified sustainability.

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Inspiration

Waste mismanagement is one of the most overlooked civic issues, overflowing landfills, polluted cities, and little accountability.
What inspired us was a simple question:

What if AI could make every citizen part of the solution?

We wanted to merge technology with civic responsibility, to create a system where people are rewarded for doing good, and waste data becomes transparent and actionable.

What We Learned

Throughout the hackathon, we learned how AI can bridge the gap between human behavior and environmental action.
We explored image classification, community-driven verification systems, and how gamification motivates real-world impact.

Most importantly, we learned that civic technology isn’t just about software, it’s about building trust, participation, and sustainability.

How We Built It

We developed WasteWise as a web platform powered by Gemini AI for image recognition and verification and Web3auth for user verification.

Tech Stack

  • Frontend: Next.js + TailwindCSS
  • Backend: Node.js
  • AI Model: Gemini Vision API for waste detection and quantity estimation
  • Storage: Neon Cloud Storage
  • Verification: Cosine similarity on image embeddings to match user and verifier uploads

Workflow

  1. User Upload: The user uploads an image of waste.
  2. AI Classification: Gemini identifies the waste type
    ( t \in {plastic, paper, metal, glass} )
    and estimates the quantity ( q ).
  3. Verification: A verifier uploads a photo of the collected waste.
  4. Matching Logic: The system confirms similarity if
    ( \cos(\theta) \ge 0.9 ).
  5. Reward: Points are awarded to the user upon successful verification.

Challenges We Faced

Building WasteWise wasn’t without challenges:

  • AI Accuracy: Ensuring Gemini correctly classified mixed or unclear waste images.
  • Verification Logic: Designing a photo-matching system that prevents false positives.
  • Scalability: Managing real-time uploads and analysis efficiently.
  • User Engagement: Making a civic tool fun, rewarding, and simple to use.

Each obstacle helped us refine both our technology and our understanding of civic engagement.

The Impact

WasteWise empowers citizens, motivates responsible disposal, and gives governments actionable data to design cleaner cities.
By combining AI, community participation, and gamified rewards, we’ve turned waste management into a movement.

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