Sustainability Profile

Login page
Homepage
Analytics page
Analytics page continued
Bonus/rewards Page
Bonus/rewards page continued
Recycling page
QR code for recycling
Transport Page
Recycling Arduino System

Inspiration

We are currently in the midst of a global environmental crisis in the form of global warming and waste production. It has been found that "Globally, transport accounts for around a quarter of CO2 emissions". In addition, "Of the 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the U.S. in 2021, only 5% to 6% — or about two million tons — was recycled". However, we strongly believe that if we can all improve a little, this will change a lot. Introducing, "Sustainability Profile" a multi-dimensional system designed to motivate and inform individuals about their carbon and environmental footprint, and incentivise them to take action and improve.

What it does

There are two main components to our system; firstly, we have developed a web-application which provides statistics to the user about the amount of time they have spent on different types of transport and converts this into the amount of CO2 released. The user is able to connect with their friends and family and compete with one another to reduce their CO2 emissions. The user is also able to redeem points for reducing their CO2 emissions overtime, which can then be converted into free transport tickets. Secondly, we have developed an embedded recycling system which calculates the number of items the user has recycled and then would send this data to a database stored in the cloud. This data would then be fetched by the website where the user can view statistics about the amount of recycling they have done and also receive points.

How we built it

We used HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap to develop our website. We also used the Google Visualization API to create the graphs on the website showing the users transport usage, CO2 emissions, and recycling.

For the embedded recycling system, we used an Arduino and an ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor is at the entrance to the recycling bin; every time the user puts a bottle or can in the bin, the ultrasonic sensor detects the item moving into the bin and increases count of the number of items recycled by 1. Ideally, what would happen is initially the user would scan their QR code from the website at the recycling bin, and then they can put all of their bottles/cans in the bin and then click finish once they are done. The data would then be sent to the database in the cloud and the website could then fetch this data and reward the user with points. Due to the time limitations, we have implemented the distance sensor feature and the system can send the data via Bluetooth, however we ran out of time to create the database to connect this data to the website.

Challenges we ran into

We tried to use the Google Maps API to import a users travel time data as google maps can detect when a user is on different types of transport, however we had some issues with this so we were unable to get this working. This would therefore, be something we would focus on implementing in the future.

We also had some issues when trying to set up using the Arduino with ethernet, so instead we decided to switch to using Bluetooth which we managed to get successfully working.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re incredibly proud that we made an application that encompasses many aspects of sustainability, which will make it easier to keep track of people’s personal green journeys. We’re pleased with the speed at which we designed our website, the content we included and the way it looks. Also, we learnt how to use an ultrasonic sensor for the Arduino recycling part, which we’re proud of.

What we learned

We learnt a lot about Green data, the way in which it’s collected and used and how it can be used to inform users. We also learnt a lot about web development while developing our Arduino skill set. But most importantly, we learnt a lot about teamwork, especially in sharing code via GitHub and managing time.

What's next for Sustainability Profile

We will implement our application as a mobile app so that the QR codes will be easily accessible (e.g. when recycling). We will connect data from multiple sources (e.g. Google Maps) to supplement the data used, making the app more reliable. Out plan is that our app will become an integral part of people’s sustainability journeys.