Ecodes

Reward yourself for every eco-friendly decision you make

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Inspiration

There are very small but impactful ways to be eco-conscious 🌱 in your daily life, like using reusable bags, shopping at thrift stores, or carpooling. We know one thing for certain; people love rewards ✨. So we thought, how can we reward people for eco-conscious behaviour such as taking the bus or shopping at sustainable businesses? We wanted a way to make eco-consciousness simple, cost-effective, rewarding, and accessible to everyone.

What it does

Ecodes rewards you for every sustainable decision you make. Some examples are: shopping at sustainable partner businesses, taking the local transit, and eating at sustainable restaurants. Simply scanning an Ecode at these locations will allow you to claim EcoPoints that can be converted into discounts, coupons or gift cards to eco-conscious businesses. Ecodes also sends users text-based reminders when acting sustainably is especially convenient (ex. take the bus when the weather is unsafe for driving). Furthermore, sustainable businesses also get free advertising, so it's a win-win for both parties! See the demo here.

How we built it

We initially prototyped UI/UX using Figma, then built onto a React-Native frontend and a Flask backend. QR codes were generated for each business via python and detected using a camera access feature created in React-Native. We then moved on to use the OpenWeatherMaps API and the Twilio API in the backend to send users text-based eco-friendly reminders.

Challenges we ran into

Implementing camera access into the app and actually scanning specific QR codes that corresponded to a unique business and number of EcoPoints was a challenge. We had to add these technical features to the front-end seamlessly without much effort from the user but also have it function correctly. But after all, there's nothing a little documentation can't solve! In the end, we were able to debug our code and successfully implement this key feature.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Kemi is proud that she learned how to implement new features such as camera access in React Native. 😙 Akanksha is proud that she learnt Flask and interfacing with Google Maps APIs in python. 😁 Vaisnavi is proud that she was able to generate multiple QR codes in python, each with a unique function. 😝 Anna is proud to create the logistics behind the project and learnt about frontend and backend development. 😎 Everyone was super open to working together as a team and helping one another out. As as a team, we learnt a lot from each other in a short amount of time, and the effort was worth it!

What we learned

We took the challenge to learn new skills outside of our comfort zone, learning how to add impressive features to an app such as camera access, QR code scanning, counter updates, and aesthetic UI. Our final hack turned out to be better than we anticipated, and inspired us to develop impactful and immensely capable apps in the future :)

What's next for Ecodes

Probably adding a location feature to send users text-based reminders to the user, informing them that an Ecode is nearby. We can use the Geolocation Google Maps API and Twilio API to implement this. Additionally, we hope to add a carpooling feature which enables users to earn points together by carpooling with one another!!

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