Plastic Island

Get those plastic bits sorted right!

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Inspiration

Did you know only SOME plastics are recyclable?In the United States, 46 million tons of plastic waste is created every year.Only 8.5 percent of that waste gets recycled. In light of Covid-19, more and more people have been buying products online, ordering food delivery, and spending more time at home. This inevitably leads to even more trash being created as shoppers discard packaging. Still, most of us are unaware of which type of plastics are recyclable. How do we get people to recycle more plastic to protect our environment?

What it does

This is an app that documents and analyses pieces of trash using Machine Learning to help ensure that waste is separated into the correct recycling bin. Additionally, Plastic Island aims to reduce the amount of waste that is headed to landfills. Users who recycle trash correctly will be rewarded with points, called 'emblem' in our app, which they can use to shop.

How we built it

First, we trained the Artificial Intelligence(Supervised Machine Learning - Deep neural network) with images from Google to learn how to tell what plastic it is. (Here, we've trained PET/HDPE/Melamine/Synthetic Rubber/PVC) by using Keras and Tensorflow Second, designing the front end and developing the backend of the app by using Dart and Flutter Third, implement the app with image recognition A.I. developed from the first step by using tflite package by switching the .h5py file extension to the ones that Flutter can handle with (Because the recent tflite package has bug in IOS - mac or iPhone users to run the app, "plastic island" app does not work with iOS/Mac yet)

Challenges we ran into

  1. Training the computer with such a limited amount of data
  2. Connecting the Python file(ML) and Flutter(app) Limited amount of time first time dealing with .h5py file ->but by using tflite, changed the extension usable for flutter
  3. Fixing the glitch that aroused from the two different codes
  4. Tried to implement Google cloud on the database for Google users
  5. Because of the bug on tflite itself, the app is not working on ios/mac

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A good working app that will allow people to have an easier time with their plastic recycles

What we learned

  1. Flutter does not work well with A.I. tools such as Tensorflow and Keras yet
  2. Ideas can become action and a start to change the world
  3. Good sleep is important XD

What's next for Plastic Island

  • Train the app with more data (higher accuracy & more categories of plastics)
  • Make a location feature to allow users around the world to do recycling abide by the laws
  • This also allows users to do recycling even on their trips!
  • Make it also work with iOS/mac by customizing the tflite package
  • Sync the database to the Google cloud for higher accessibility

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