A Sustainable Marketplace Website that can give people options either to sell the used items directly to the shop or to upcycle the discarded items and sell it for a better price
In the current situation with waste, we need to figure out how to figure out the waste we currently have, for example, glass bottle or even furniture. Sometimes recycling itself doesn't work. We all have to contribute to do something else.
It could be easier to sell it for a lower price directly, but instead of doing so, why don't we turn it into something more meaningful and can have more value to it? It doesn't only impact the earth; also, we can contribute to the economy cycle.
That’s why we provide BrightWaste, which helps people to get plenty of ideas on how to recycle their stuff and lets the potential seller get notified when they can sell the products for a better price.
- Students in Lacey, WA state, US (20-28 years old) who want to earn some money to pay for their tuition
- Old people (50+ years old) who has crafted mind
Beatrix loves to do DIY in her own time. So, she thought of driving her car to a materials store close to her area to buy some wood to build a new shelf. She was disappointed how much waste of the furniture that was left off in the store and nobody picks it up even for free. Luckily, not only getting his wood to make the shelf, but Beatrix also got a chance to interview a worker in the shop and two other people that are around in the same shop.
The questions to all of them were the same: "Tell me how you reuse the materials that you have used before".
Of course, before the interview started, Beatrix introduced herself. She explained why she interviewed them - The reason was that she was interested in learning more about how people's behavior impacts how they use/reuse their stuff). And it was shocking to listen to their answers:
To support the argument from above, we tried to do secondary research. Based on the research from homedepot.com:
- People prefer to buy the new material rather than use the reclaimed materials or used materials. It can tell from the number of customers bought the new one vs the used one.
We also analyzed the competitors deeper, including OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and Shpock.com (UK competitors). What makes us different?
- We generate the DIY steps link for sellers so they know how to recycle their used materials efficiently. Additionally, we give another options if one option doesn't work.
- Earn extra money while at the same time helping the environment by reducing waste.
- Provide a safe transaction because you don't directly sell the products to individuals. Instead, you sell it to the store which has provided CCTV, and it will avoid any scam transactions.
- Problems with managing the used materials
- No enough education provided to citizen how to manage the waste. It's only on the newsletter and people have zero interest to it.
- No idea how to recycle the materials and turn it into something better.
- Scam in-person transaction (e,g., the buyer offers more than the listed price) - every payment will go through the online system.
- Extra money issue (most websites provide earning money in easy way and people get scammed).
- Framework: Next.js
- Library: React.js
- API: Firebase, Courier API
- For a designer, backing up to be a front-end dev
Since we are running out of time, designer has to help the dev working on the code.
- Creating a scenario that makes sense
To make sure others understand what we are building, we were thinking to create the scenario that makes the app flow better. (The scenario was explained in the little video that we created above).
- Implement the app so the potential seller can take a picture of their item before they sell it all from the phone.
- If the web app gets more attention in the US, we are trying to create this in Indonesia (where we come from), which has more waste issues due to poor waste management and lack of environmental awareness.
- Add newsletter feature and proper notification between seller and store.
- Get notified when there is a selling challenge around them.
- Building the app web within two weeks of the timeframe
Due to our hectic time (work and study), we have to try our best to create an app that can benefit society. That's why we keep changing our ideas many times. We also struggle with our timezone difference (PST and WIB time).
- Finding ideas and aligning the goals within the team
We agree sometimes it is not easy to align one's purpose with another. We had to do a short pitch for others to understand what products we were trying to build.
- Learning the next.js and implementing the Courier API at the same time
Agile development process is what we take to finish up our project. We keep re-iterating again and again to make sure we are all in the same page, especially when it comes to implement the API and the framework that we use.
Source: IBM, Dosomething, and NCSU, Weforum, Iconscout and Unsplash (Picture).