Greener 2gether

An app to identify greenwashing by scanning supermarket products as well as providing the environmental footprint of it, also helping others to introduce their waste into circular economy. 

The app focus on fighting greenwashing as its main purpose, it will let the user know how many resources were used to made the product they want to purchase, track their food waste and help them build a sustainable shopping list; another category of the app is a map were the user can find farm markets, this way the user will be able to choose fresh, local and seasonal products. "Circle it" consists in showing the user many different ways they can introduce their "waste" into circular economy before becoming garbage, the app will give many options but also it will open a community of people sharing their ideas and projects as well as allowing people exchange the items or food they no longer need but others may find useful ("Greener 2gether"). The last category, “My health”, will let you scan the nutrition facts label in a product and helping you decide whether is good or not for your health. 

The user interface idea looks like the next two images:

The app can fund itself by selling the collected information to big companies, in this way they can track the supply and demand behavior and avoid overproduction and waste. 

The main problem and where the idea of the app started is about Greenwashing, it is usually well hidden in advertising campaigns and labels in everyday products, and greenwashing can show in many different shapes making it harder to easily recognize, is a dishonest practice used by companies for profit, and the regulations around this issue have a lot of inconsistencies. In a research study conducted by IBM in 2020 they found out that 70% of the population drive their choices based in certain attributes related with how good is for the environment and how much supports recycling and they are willing to pay more for them. 

Once we identify greenwashing we still need help finding a good product and reducing our waste. Waste of food is one of the main polluters, all the stages of the process consume a lot of resources, just in the US the waste of food is 40% of the produced, this means we are using 40% more energy and resources, an overproduction is causing it along with a high demand due to bad administration in homes, restaurants and hotels, the solution may be connecting the user with the producer, allowing producers to track consumer habits and shopping lists to balance the market, also making people aware of their waste and its impact, help them track their food to know when to eat it before it goes bad, using information from both sides since is the most powerful tool of this era. 

The target audience for people concerned about the environment is not limited, however since is through an app for mobile devices it will be more accessible for younger generations, it will be essential to make it simple and easy to use. 

It will directly benefit people by not getting scammed since that is what greenwashing does, by tracking their shopping habits and being recommended just what they need they will be able to spend less money, they will also be able to save time. 

From a global point of view, our individual choices, essentially when it comes to food, generate a chain reaction, some people are aware, some are not, even when we are aware, it takes a lot of time to find and summarize the information of every single product to make a right decision. Way often, media blames everything in the consumer creating a feeling of guilt but the rhythm of life does not gives space to take action, we may also be aware of the participation of big industries, and thinking that we as individuals can not change it, but the truth is that everything is connected, consumerism practices when it comes to food makes no sense since our portions stay almost the same through time. By eradicating these kind of practices we minimize inequality, raise of prices, poverty, and will ensure resources for future generations. 

I have met a lot of people from different cultures and countries in my life, and all of them waste food or had an "eco-friendly" product around. When I introduce the proposal to my mentors they described it as helpful and capable on doing an impact on society and environment.

I think that the app can associate with different Universities, organizations, brands and government to have the necessary impulse. 

It started as part of a scholar project in my college, in an assignment called "Society 5.0", we had to create a proposal human centered. For 5 months we did research on the problem, its impact as well as possible solutions, the team who had the idea is conformed by 2 other people and we constructed the idea guided by our two professors. 

The app will work using image recognition algorithms in combination with the camera of the device and artificial intelligence software to achieve image content search and identify the implicit characteristics in the products being scanned by the user, this requires the use of deep learning so the algorithm can filter, classify and layer the information. The app will also use searching mechanisms based in the information recollected throughout the image recognition software to find information from the internet and once again filter, layer, and classify it to give a final prediction to the user, this prediction will include how “green” the product is or how healthy it is.Another tool needed in the app is maps, geolocation using your data to find locations (such as farm markets) and navigate to them. 

Also a database able to share the information collected from the users with the producers and predict market trends.  

100,000

• Greenwashing awareness
• Create a community through social media focused in the environment   
• Generate less waste
• Foment local products 

Sharing the existence of this practices and habits through social media, creating conferences with experts in my community, sharing with my relatives solutions for these problems. 

The proposal is directly related to SDGs number 3 (good health and well-being), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 13 (climate action), 14 (life below water), and 15 (life on land). These SDGs are affected by consumer behavior which in turn is affected by business’ behavior.

The first step to accomplish is the creation of the app, then testing it on a small group to find inconsistencies, later on test it on bigger groups, receive feedback and create a final prototype, the next step will be the association with different sectors, such as social organizations, government, universities, etc., show brands the proposal and the benefits they can get, then will be getting people to know the app and use it in the daily. 

The visible impacts of the solution can be divided as:

Short-term: help users save money (can be tracked by surveys). 

Mid-term: a big amount of users in the app enough to be able to help  companies predict consumer behavior and modify their production (can be tracked by how close the data obtained is with reality).

Long-term: less waste of food (tracked by the countrie and compare the change with other years data), less "green" marketing on supermarkets (making a count and compare the amount in the future). 

For now the biggest barrier is technical, I would need a group of experts to create the app which leads to financial barriers, I also expect difficulties to reach people. 

We are surrounded by really good mentors who offer their knowledge and guide us in our path, our college focus on creating citizens with a strong interest and knowledge in social, environmental and global situations, the class where we came up with the project idea is part of the "International Diploma" distinctive which you receive after taking extra classes focused on giving students a wider perspective of the world. We are strongly interested in being part of the solution, on providing ideas out of the box, and investing our time in creating the change 

I am not into the age range, however the solution is focus in taking climate action and solving sustainability issues as a project based in human interaction the prize will be helpful for reaching more people and getting them to know the existence of the app, that way we can start to see the impact of it faster and contribute with the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals, also it would be useful to reach big brands and convince them to join the cause. 

From the economic point of view it would be possible to develop the solution faster, find good professionals to create an interesting app and develop a good marketing strategy. 

The app focus on using all available alternatives to solve how consumers and producers see waste of food causing waste of resources, money, social inequality, economic losses. 

In short the recognition can attract users and investors, the economical prize can help in development of the app and a marketing strategy.