myPLANET application: an innovative recycling system

Recycling is the process of collecting waste materials and breaking them down into building blocks of new products. Efficient waste management via recycling is essential to protect the environment and the health of human population. However, the community is still unaware of recycling, and they lack confidence and awareness in recycling, thus leading to the disposal of recyclable wastes. Therefore, a recycling tracking application called myPLANET was developed to encourage public to recycle their waste thus reducing the waste dumping in oceans and landfills. We also want to develop myPLANET application using Android Studio which consists of Kotlin, XML and Google’s Firebase, and guide users on how to recycle using the futuristic features in myPLANET app. Modern problems require modern solutions. Aside from Google's Firebase, which will be used for user authentication, data storage, and artificial intelligence, we also used XML, which defines properties and the layout of objects in the app. Moreover, this application utilized APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allows applications to communicate with each other, and Kotlin, which is the framework, to create the myPLANET application using Android Studio. As a result, a mapping system was deployed in the application which would guide the users on the location of recycling centers. Besides that, guidelines and FAQ page, a reward system, and recycling programs were also administered to make the objectives of our application come true. Based on the conducted survey, 100% of participants agreed that the app states its purposes and function, and encouraged them to recycle. This app will be a steppingstone of Malaysia’s goal in becoming a country with net zero carbon emissions by 2050.