TrashOut: "Locate and get rid of Illegal Dumps"

Founder: Jozef (Dodo) VODICKA
Global Partners:

Research Question: How can we provide waste-conscious individuals with a system to report illegal dump sites to people/organisations that can do something about it?

Why TrashOut? I found TrashOut to be a unique kind of waste solution app, considering that most other apps focus on the logistics of recycling, rather than reporting illegal waste. On the technical side, while the app also makes use of APIs, I could see where databases could be used, and I wanted to explore that possibility.

Who uses TrashOut?
  • People who are concerned about littering and illegal dumps
  • People who want to recycle the right way
  • Good earth citizens :)
Meet Amelia!

Amelia, 26 years, is a paediatric nurse in a Children’s Hospital in Poland. She lives in the suburbs of Warsaw, with her middle-aged parents, high schooler brother, and two cats. Her family is comfortably in the middle class, with her contributing around 115,000 PLN to the household income yearly. Amelia loves children but hates the thought of having to raise her future kids in the noisy, polluted city.
She loves outdoor activities like running, hiking, and kayaking. However, her hectic work schedule and odd hours means that she has to limit her activities to riding her bike to work every day.
Cycling to work has made her discover several trash heaps that are building up, with no one taking responsibility for them. As a lover of nature, Amelia finds these sights disturbing, but she cannot clean them up because she has no free time.

Key Features
  • Report dump
  • Take picture
  • Add location
  • Share with others
  • Read news and updates
  • Check map
  • View statistics
UX Storyboard
Technical Analysis

General Principle: The TrashOut app uses APIs to connect to GPS and database to store and access news, images, and other content for the user.

Technical Overview: Databases Used:

  • News Database: Updated regularly.
  • Reports Database: Dump location (stored once), Reporter's name (stored once).
  • Reports Log Database: Reports (updated regularly).
  • Statistics Database: Worldwide reports (updated in real time), Country reports (updated in real time), Cleaned dumps (updated in real time).
Actions and Examples:
  • A data is created: New dump reported.
  • A data is read: News article read by user.
  • A data is updated: User cleans a dump and updates it in app.
  • A data is deleted: News article deleted.
Query Types:
  • Search: Dumps near me.
  • Filter: Dumps in my city.
  • Sort: Dump location from nearest to farthest.

Added Value Thanks to Database: With databases, TrashOut users are able to have an accessible directory to all the dumps. In addition, the Statistics feature on the app can be stored and updated in real time, so that users can immediately see the results of their actions. Also, without database, it would be difficult for the users to get relevant environmental news and information.