GreenTribe

Nigerians lack recycling solutions that are reliable and accessible. GreenTribe uses tech to organize information, increase recycling rates, and meet our Nigerian users' needs.

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Introducing GreenTribe

GreenTribe is a web app developed to help Nigerians recycle with greater ease. On the platform users can easily locate a nearby recycling center and exchange recyclables for a free bin they can schedule pick-ups for, thereby providing business opportunity for investors who also have an opportunity to use the platform to run their bin pick-up businesses.

Our inspiration, our mission, our purpose

Inspired by our team member’s experience with “I pick to survive” in the Oworo community in Lagos State, she explained recycling is a critical need for communities in Nigeria who want cleaner streets, employment growth, and a more robust future. Her story moved us to take action in hopes of making a difference in Nigerian’s lives.

Amid Nigeria's expanding economy, the urgent waste management issue demands attention. Current recycling practices are sporadic and unreliable, discouraging citizens from participating due to inconvenience. A staggering 80% of plastics are discarded as the population and economy grow.

Our mission is to seize this opportunity to harness the untapped potential of un-recycled plastics, translating it into job opportunities, cleaner streets, and a more sustainable future for all Nigerians.

Our purpose is to enable Nigerians to take advantage of their growing economy to build a better life by enabling them to use their creativity and goodwill.

What it does

This Nigerian-based web application serves as a platform for users to join the recycling program. It enables household members to locate recycling centers, exchange their recyclables for bins, and sign up for an account. Household account holders can conveniently schedule bin pick-ups with a low-cost monthly subscription. Investors can register as drop-off points, manage pickup routes, schedules, and oversee their recycling process and resale activities with ease on their investor accounts. The objective is to foster a circular economy that addresses issues like littered streets, unemployment, and lack of recycling awareness and resources.

How to use it

Go to the GreenTribe website where you can either create an account for your household or as an investor. You can also search for your nearest recycling center to trade in your recycling for your first bin if you are a household member. You then can begin scheduling bin pick-ups right away. If an investor, all you need to do is sign on to your account to get started with establishing and growing your recycling business by signing up as a recycling drop-off point and adopting pick-up routes.

How we built it

The team first brainstormed and chose recycling in Nigeria as the focus because we believe we can have the greatest impact there. Then the designers researched, conducted surveys, and interviews to understand the waste management problem, finding issues with unreliable refuse collection. After designing a solution to solve the recycling pick-up problem, we call GreenTribe, the team tested initial prototypes before passing on mockups for developers to begin implementation.

The website's development comprised of user authentication, map integration, form validation, distinct pages for various users, a user-friendly login and sign-up process, seamless routing, and responsiveness using React, CSS, Javascript, and more. Shared components were built to ensure consistency and efficient project management. Essential pages like "About Us," "Contact," and “Accounts" and user flows were built as a team to get a functional MVP up and running.

Challenges we ran into

For designers, a lack of access to the target demographic meant we had to conduct internal usability tests. Additionally, being new to working with developers was a bit of learning on the job, learning from communication mistakes in realtime. Overall the team suffered from scope/feature creep at times so the PM made crucial decisions to cut down or eliminate certain features in interest of getting the MVP out the door.

For the developers there were a few challenges:

  • Git usage initially posed difficulties, resulting in recurring merge conflicts.
  • Integrating a backend, especially using Google Provider for authentication, presented a learning curve.
  • Proper page routing was vital, while crafting the sign-up process demanded context provider implementation for seamless authentication handling.
  • Overcoming the learning curve, the devs tackled map integration and form validation.
  • Additionally, optimizing the MVP components involved decision-making and handling proxy issues.
  • Despite frontend errors while learning node.js, team collaboration swiftly resolved these concerns.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As a team we are proud of figuring out collaboration despite the different timezones. It's hard to learn on the fly, under pressure, so we're very proud we learned new skills such as responsive design in Figma, mentoring one another, react apps and third party libraries, and learning from our mistakes. We worked hard so seeing our work come alive thanks to our efforts is priceless. It’s been incredibly rewarding to rise to the challenge together, and we will carry these lessons into our next roles as more effective designers, developers, communicators, and collaborators.

What we learned

Our team has a lot to be proud of because despite the challenges, we rose to occasion. Our team cultivated effective collaboration by learning to communicate in spite of the different timezones by holding regular meetings and frequent communication on Discord. This project has offered not only technical skill enhancement (Figma, React, etc.) but also valuable lessons in working together. Some team members delved deeper into React and node.js, and others gained insight into problem-solving and mentoring. As a result of this experience, we now grasp the specific needs of each role, positioning us for a more informed approach in future projects, and ways to be more efficient with time.

What's next for GreenTribe

Looking ahead, we have several key areas to enhance for the website's advancement. Aligning the front end with the designs and expanding content with educational resources and recycling insights are top priorities. Improving application responsiveness, accessibility, and functionalities is essential, alongside optimizing performance for a smoother user experience. Prioritizing mobile responsiveness, enforcing coding standards, and furthering knowledge in React and three.js are also key steps toward our growth.

Our Go-to-Market Strategy for our Nigerian web application emphasizes accessibility and scalability. We'll launch through web browsers and mobile devices, prioritizing user-friendly design. Targeted marketing efforts and collaborations with local communities will raise awareness, particularly with the help of social media. Scalability is ensured through our adaptable architecture, while investor engagement will be fostered to support recycling efforts and drive growth.

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