‘The teams behind the apps’ series: meet cleanSpot
Competing in the EU Datathon 2021: Boost recycling because there is no planet B
'The teams behind the apps' is a series of videos made by the EU Datathon finalists. Get to know the people and their proposals for apps over nine episodes, once a week, in a run-up to the final event. At the competition finals in November the teams will pitch their apps to the jury who will select the winners.
In this fifth episode you get to meet the team behind cleanSpot, an app that boosts recycling. They are competing with two other teams in challenge 1: ‘A European Green Deal’. Their motto? ‘Boost recycling because there is no planet B’.
CleanSpot is an app that helps improving reuse and waste sorting by awareness-raising, incentivising and gamification of recycling. The app allows you to locate recycling and reuse spots and awareness-raising campaigns in your city. It also calculates how much CO2 emissions you avoid by recycling. Finally, you can gain rewards points on a Virtual Card and compare yourself with others.
Marcos Martínez Robles is the creator of cleanSpot and he joined us for an interview in which we talked about the app, the idea that led to its creation, and the progress so far.
How are you doing with the app? What’s the status?
The app is already available, and you can download and install it from Google Play and from the Apple Store. Over the last few months, we have been working on finalising an English version of the app. We are now also working on including recycling centres in other European countries besides Spain, since most of our data are currently collected in the Spanish territory and we want this app to be useful throughout Europe in the future. We are using the data.europa.eu portal to include that information. It is possible to use our CO2 calculator to know the quantity of emissions that you avoid each time you recycle or reuse and to receive tips on recycling and saving energy.
How did you come up with the idea for this app?
One day, my partner and I had a lot of clothes that we no longer needed and we did not know where to go to dispose of them without simply throwing them away. Since I am a software developer, it occurred to me that it would be great to have an app that could help us, and I began working on it just for fun. With this app, I won the first open data contest organised by the Málaga Council. Then I decided to go further, adding new features and recycling centres in other cities.
Who is your app for?
We want to be the go-to app when it comes to where and how to recycle/reuse, so anyone can use this app. We made the app free in order to encourage recycling in local communities and help public administrations, municipalities, waste management entities and educational institutions increase their recycling efforts and raise awareness for environmental conservation and climate change.
To find out more about cleanSpot, watch the 1-minute video prepared by the team.
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