Rubbish Revolution: A Smart Solution for Effective Plastic Waste Management and Collaborative User Engagement in Responsible Disposal

The management of plastic waste is a pressing global issue that demands effective solutions to mitigate it’s negative impacts on the environment, health and economies. This work proposes the development of a web based application that enables users to manage their plastic waste by ensuring a method for it’s proper disposal. The idea is suitable for a WiFi enabled campus where the dustbins are equipped with the required hardware/software for barcode and QR code scanning. The work is coined the name ’Rubbish Revolution’, abbreviated as ’RR’. RR has three roles, an admin, the shopkeepers and the users. For each user, a unique user ID along with a unique QR code is generated when they register via RR. RR allows the store to scan the barcode/QR code on the plastic products and assigns that particular product information to the user who has purchased the product. This information enable users to assign responsibility for the plastic waste generated. The user would be rewarded in the form of credit points for the proper disposal of these plastic wastes. If the owner of the plastic waste improperly disposed it and someone else disposes it properly, the owner gets negative points while the disposer earns points. The users can check their credit points and redeem them when the points has reached certain limit. The points are given a value that can be redeemed at the store. The admin can edit the points of the user if necessary. RR seeks to provide a practical and innovative solution to the plastic waste problem by leveraging technology and user engagement.