Sustain-A-Cycle: A Trash to Treasure Initiative

What inspired us?

For years, we've seen the amount of trash thrown out daily in our homes, the massive, poorly managed landfills in our city, and the huge wealth gap in our country. We were also impressed by our school's Earth Week Art Auction, where people were reusing trash to make both useful items and beautiful crafts. The themes for this year's hackathon encouraged us to come up with an idea that would tackle these issues, and thus Sustain-A-Cycle was born.

We believe that one reason why people simply allow their trash to be dumped into landfill is because it is more convenient for them to stay at home and let someone else take it far away. To combat this, we created collection points that will ideally proliferate throughout Chennai, allowing for easy disposal while maintaining a clean conscience.

What does it do?

Our website serves multiple purposes. The first is for people with trash. They are able to find areas to give their trash to, rather than simply leaving it in their homes, or dumping it in a trash land. The second purpose is for people or organisations wishing to keep this trash. These people will store the trash in their homes, with opportunities to set parameters on the type of trash they are willing to take in. We will then collect the trash, and provide less developed areas with this trash. They can then create products out of this trash, which is then sold back to the city. This brings us to the third function, which is a shop, which sells the products made in less developed areas. All profits will be provided back to the community.

Our website serves multiple purposes.

People with trash are able to find a purposeful way to dispose of it, rather than simply throwing it into landfill.
People wanting to volunteer for an environmental and social cause can volunteer their location as a collection point for people with trash, as well as organising and sorting the trash.
People wanting to support our artisans in other ways can buy their products through our online store. The profits from this store will go back to the artisans, and help them to break socio-economic barriers.

How did we build it?

We built the website using Wix. We used tools such as the Google Maps API to provide a map of available collection locations, and created a comprehensive database that stores information (location & type of trash accepted) about the different collection locations.

What obstacles did we overcome?

We initially faced the difficulty of not knowing how we would sort the trash, but by adding parameters on which collection locations accept which types of trash, we resolved this issue. Connecting our data to the website and displaying it accurately also posed some challenges for us. However, by looking through the data and with the help of the internet, we overcame these issues.

What accomplishments are we proud of?

We are very proud that we successfully integrated the collection location database, as this eased the inputting of information. Additionally, we are excited about the Google Maps API, as it will greatly enhance the consumer experience by enabling them to quickly locate the nearest collection location.

What did we learn?

As this is our first hackathon, we learned a lot about creating a real solution to a real issue and also about making a website. This experience provided us with valuable insights on how to improve our design and implement code effectively. We believe that this new knowledge will really help us in any upcoming Hackathons, enabling us to work more efficiently and utilise services like the Google Maps API and AI for website creation.

What's next for Sustain-A-Cycle?

We are interested in exploring the possibility of implementing Sustain-A-Cycle in real life. If it proves feasible, we would like to pitch it to the Chennai Corporation, who could help oversee the operation of various collection locations as well as the improvement of underdeveloped areas in Chennai. However, before pitching the idea, we may need to improve the product flow and consider adding additional features.