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“Refund Planet”

Name: Minds On Design Lab
Price range: $

Creators: Emily, Anthony and Nathanael

High School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ It Takes A Village Academy

About this Project:

The challenge or issue that our project addresses is guaranteeing that all reusable items in the United States are recycled.

Water bottles, newspapers, and cardboard are some examples. Pollution and microplastics in drinking water are examples of issues that have impacted people's living conditions. Over time, the thought occurred to us that we should address this issue because we considered it was neglected in our community.

This project focuses on recycling and assisting our community in various ways. It allows consumers to earn money using the app, which they can then donate to charity to help those in need.

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More About this Project

This link will take you to our google slides presentation.

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Learn more about the judges

Feedback from the Judges:

Sarah Maldonado

👏 Director of Program Performance at Mouse — Emoti-Con Judge

People don't recycle enough, so creating an incentive to do so is a great solution! This has been proven to work with bottles and cans (https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8500.html), and I appreciate your idea to expand this across to other forms of recycling. It's a great step forward!

Kathy Rutherford

👏 Engineer at Engineering — Emoti-Con Judge

Finding ways to reward people for recycling those items that can be recycled is a great initiative. With the growing awareness of the dangers of plastic- from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the micro plastics in fish, animals and our food chain... this is a life-or-death issue that needs to be addressed now. We have found that providing bottle deposits have worked to bring plastics in for recycling. I believe that your idea of a refillable card that is associated with the app and specialized recycling bins is an excellent idea. Germany has such recycling bins in supermarkets and in the public areas (albeit without money rewards given). China is also working on such a system, as described here ( https://www.alizila.com/alibabas-trash-recognition-tech-sorts-out-recycling-woes/ ). I think your idea is very timely for the U.S.!

Sierra Stone

👏 Growth and Partnerships Manager at Wix Education — Emoti-Con Judge

Recycling is SO important and the the US is definitely behind most countries so I think this idea is both timely, necessary, and impactful!! I love the idea of positive reinforcement to encourage more people to recycle!! I'm wondering if the money they get will be used for donations or if they can use it for any purchase? I think there is potential to develop both sides!!

Zainab Oni

👏 Senior Strategy Associate at J.P. Morgan — Emoti-Con Judge

Incredible idea of incentivizing people to recycle through a rewards program! This would be a positive reinforcement for people to do something good for the planet while getting a little something in return. There is already some proof of concept because (1) bottle deposits increased recycling and (2) there is a lot of research that reward programs work which is why retailers keep creating more and more of them. I think people will be even more encouraged if they can choose what they do with their payout e.g. donate to charity, cash out, and/or use the money towards their next purchase.

Thank you for a record-breaking 14th anniversary event! Comments are officially closed until next year.