ECO

Creating a mobile application to register community/green actions using a contactless technology and giving rewards. The aim is to encourage “The 3 ‘R

The purpose of this project consists in creating a mobile application to register community/social actions (green actions). The aim is to encourage “The 3 ‘R’s” (reduce, reuse, recycle) in order to reduce our environmental footprint on the planet. How does it work? By using contactless technology, we will register a number of points per action. Those will be exchanged for comunitary benefits. How can we get the points? There will be different places where you can have the opportunity to carry out specific activities such as collaborating in a self-managed vegetable patch, buying zero kilometer products and eco-friendliness, using correctly recycled litter... ¿What can we get with the points? We can get different rewards: Furniture improvements for common areas and classes. Validation of credits ECTS UB Merchandising. Free graduation photo. Choose where the class will take place during one day. Educational achievements: We want to encourage students and teachers to participate in ecological and social life. That’s why we focus on the use of a reward system (which is often seen in video games) encouraging activities that benefit the common good. Hoped results: Our first expected result is an increase of social awareness in regard to the environment and the importance of taking action from a collective perspective. Secondly, we expect to build a community in order to give the university meaning. Moreover, we hoped that this whole educational community would get involved in the actions. In this way, we will get a responsible society with the environment. This will mean a reduction in the usage of plastics, a more clean campus and a rise in the purchase of local products. Finally, we would like to spread this project to other faculties and universities since it will generate a wider and better result in terms of protecting the planet.

Initially, we will implement the project in our campus (Campus Mundet, Barcelona) which is the faculty of education and psychology. We think it’s a good place since there is a green space which is very useful for our project. Then, we will expand it little by little to other places.

First, we need to create the app. This will require contracting a service or cooperating with technician students who are able to make it work. We also need to install the concrete system, and plan how and where it will be placed, and hire specialists. Finally, there is a changeable part of these funds, which requires the biggest investment due to the continuity. All the rewards we have suggested will need funds given by the university. It’s upon the administration to know how much they want to invest. Total funds needed are €2500 approximately.

Fortunately, our project doesn’t need direct contact between participants. Furthermore, the fact that we use a mobile application and contactless technology work in our favor. Thanks to our transversal perspective we achieve a large adaptability to the needs of every campus. Despite the main challenge could be confinement itself, there are some ideas applicable to the specific situation such as recording in video actions done for recycling, reusing or reducing trash. Another idea is choosing a volunteer responsible for keeping the vegetable patch in good conditions, in case of having it.To sum up, even though we don’t have special difficulties in applying the current ideas in regard of Covid-19, we should accomplish the sanitary restrictions to make this project safer.