GreenHoyas

GreenHoyas turns sustainability into verified currency. We gamify waste reduction by verifying reusables at events and campus-based restaurants, stopping plastic usage EVEN before it starts.

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TEAM ID CODE: 36DFA28A16763F22

Inspiration

Picture the last time you attended a campus event or grabbed food or drink at the campus restaurant.

We've all seen it: the trash cans overflowing with plastic plates, forks, and cups. We use them for 15 minutes, and they sit in a landfill for 500 years.

That mountain of plastic waste comes from just one single interaction. On the first night of the HoyaHacks we had dinner and all the students were using plastic cutlery for the same, thats when it HIT hard for us!!!!

Now multiply that by every club meeting, every festival and every food or drink at a campus restaurant. The scale is terrifying. We realized that bans are hard to enforce and recycling is often a myth. The only real solution is prevention, just getting students to choose not to take the plastic in the first place.

What it does

GreenHoyas is a campus-wide ecosystem that turns sustainability into a verifiable currency. It creates a closed loop of trust between students, campus restaurants/cafes, event hosts, and the university.

We built three distinct portals to solve this:

1. For Students (The Gamification Layer):

  1. A mobile-first dashboard where students register for campus events or sign up for the campus-based food and drink spots.
  2. They see exactly what reusable items to bring (e.g., "Bring a cup: +50 pts") and dynamic AI suggestions of what replacements can be brought respective to the event details.
  3. They physically avoid taking plastic at the event to earn rewards.
  4. AI Smart Nudges: Context-aware, humorous notifications (powered by Gemini) that remind students exactly which reusable item to bring (e.g., "Hey Alex! Don't forget your reusable cup for the Fall Concert!") an hour before the each registered event coming up.

For Event Hosts (The Trust Layer):

  1. Student organizations and vendors inside the campus use our Live Verification tool.
  2. When a student shows up with their own bottle or fork, the Host taps a button to instantly verify the action to add points against the student.
  3. This "Proof of Action" prevents cheating and makes the data real.

3. For the Sustainability Office (The Impact Layer):

  1. A "God Mode" dashboard that aggregates real-time data using Snowflake API.
  2. They don't just see "points"; they see "12,450 plastic cups diverted from landfill." This provides the hard data needed to justify green funding.

ON SUMMARY, GreenHoyas is a comprehensive web platform that bridges the gap between digital rewards and physical sustainability on campus.

The system operates as a unified ecosystem connecting three key stakeholders: Students, Restaraunt/Event Staff, and the Sustainability Office. Through a mobile-optimized dashboard, students register for events and pledge to bring reusables. When they arrive, staff use a dedicated Admin Verification Interface to digitally validate these physical items (like a reusable mug) in real-time. This data feeds directly into a central Analytics Dashboard, giving the university "God Mode" visibility into actual plastic diversion metrics, rather than relying on estimates or self-verification

How we built it

We architected a modern, scalable full-stack solution:

Frontend: Built with Next.js 15 (App Router) for a premium, responsive experience. We used TailwindCSS with a custom "Glassmorphism" design system to make sustainability feel modern and high-tech, not dusty or boring.

Backend: A robust Node.js & Express REST API that handles the business logic.

Database: MongoDB stores our complex relationships between users, contexts (events), and transactions. Verification Logic: We implemented a transactional system where points are only minted when a trusted "Host" verifies a "Student" request, similar to how a blockchain validates a block, but for plastic.

Analytics: Snowflake API was used to store verified, immutable sustainability actions and reward data, enabling campus-wide analytics on plastic reduction across events and restaurants.

Hosting: We used Vultr to host our full-stack MERN application.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was solving the "Trust Gap." Most sustainability apps rely on users simply clicking a button to self-report their actions ("I recycled today!"). We realized this data is often unreliable and unverifiable.

Solution: We deliberately architected a Host-Driven Verification System. By making the Event Host the only person who can award points, we ensured that every single digital point corresponds to a physical action verified by a human.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. The "One-Tap" Verification: We optimized the Admin flow to be lightning fast like under 2 seconds, so lines at busy events don't get held up.
  2. The UI/UX: We managed to move away from the typical "crunchy granola" green aesthetic to a sleek, tech-forward interface that students actually want to use.

What we learned

  1. Trust is an Engineering Challenge: Moving beyond "good intentions" to verifiable data systems.
  2. Speed is a Feature: Acknowledging that if the app is slow in a lunch line, students won't use it.

What's next for GreenHoyas

  1. Campus Wallet Integration: Collaborating with campus finance authorities and registrar to start converting GreenPoints into real campus dollars added to the Student GOCard. 2.. University Card Integration: Partnering with the Registrar, so students can just "tap" their GOCard to get searched by the host easily to get points on their account.
  2. Community Expansion: Scaling beyond campus walls to partner with local Georgetown businesses (e.g., "Compass Coffee" or "Call Your Mother"), allowing students to earn and spend points at their favorite off-campus spots.

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