GREENYC Waste Management Platform

Web App Development for Cooper Union Summer STEM Program

Role

Front-end Developer • Designer

Skills

Development

Team

4 developers

Outcomes

Designed an MVP application and learned web development for the first time.

(Teams were tasked with creating web applications that would provide solutions for our United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) of choice.)

Problem

Street trash is a big problem for New York City, but waste management often can’t keep up with disposal.

Solution

Utilizing social media characteristics like competition and social repute to incentivize individuals and communities to clean up New York City’s streets. increasing involvement and participation in waste management.

Features

The primary interface for GREENYC is map-based, allowing users to search by location.

  • Map: Find and view locations

  • Clean-Up Pin: Add or view others’ pins on the map with before and after photos of waste clean-up

  • Community Feed: Announce a clean-up effort or report a location that needs to be cleaned

  • Leaderboard: Display’s weekly leaderboards for pounds of trash cleaned-up

  • Find Friends: Add friends to get updates on their activity

  • Safety Information: Information on proper clean-up and GREENYC disposal locations

User Journey

Implementation

GREENYC was implemented with HTML, CSS, and React Javascript and uses hypothetical data.

Reflection

Creating GREENYC in high school was my first time engaging in a computer science project, and I learned so much from this opportunity to work with a team during Cooper Union’s Summer STEM Program. I conceptualized and designed the website UI, as well as how it would effectively motivate users with leaderboards, a friend system, and messaging to allow users to gather in groups for clean-ups.

This was the first project through which I was able to gain confidence in my programming abilities. Aside from front-end programming, I was also able to contribute my art and design background and learned so much from working with my team members who had various skill sets and strengths.