PS-07Climate, Water & Circularity
ReLoop
AI-Assisted Circular Economy and Responsible Material Recovery
SDG 11SDG 12
The challenge
Reusable materials, e-waste, packaging and repairable items often enter mixed waste because households and institutions do not know the correct recovery channel, while authorised recyclers and reuse organisations lack reliable visibility into available material. Create a circular-economy platform that classifies an item or material, recommends a suitable reuse/repair/recycling pathway and matches it with a verified collection or processing option. The system should make its classification understandable, maintain chain-of-custody evidence where appropriate and avoid directing hazardous material to unverified handlers.
What a working submission needs
Develop a web/mobile prototype that accepts an image or item description, identifies the material/category, recommends the preferred recovery pathway, shows nearby approved options and records handover status.
Demonstrate several common categories including at least one e-waste case.
Stretch goals
pickup optimisation, QR traceability, repairability scoring or institutional waste analytics.
Optional. A working core counts for more than feature count.Suggested stack
Web/mobile application, AI/ML models, a mapping or dashboard interface, and open APIs as appropriate to the problem.
Scope and responsibility
Healthcare, safety and public-sector challenges are decision-support tools, not autonomous clinical, legal, emergency-command or enforcement systems. Name your prototype’s limitations in the demo. Judging weighs a working core, justified use of AI, technical quality, real-world impact and responsible design above feature count.
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