Project: Recycling Scanner

This is a project of the CIIS course (WS 2021/22). The content below was created by Simon Morsch.

These days there are many problems in the world and a lot of them are a result of how we humans treat the environment. The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the climate change and the growing pollution of the earth.

Since this is a very complex subject, I want to focus on one thing for now: waste disposal and recycling.
Looking at the German waste disposal and recycling system, I think, in theory it is a good system. But the rules are often to complex and some of them differ from state to state, or even from city to city.

An example for a consequence of this often inconvenient system is the residual waste: About 65% of this is disposed wrong. Since the residual waste gets incinerated or landfilled, these 65% can’t be recycled anymore. That is not only a waste of resources, but also leads to higher CO2 emission. For newly produced aluminum for example the CO2 emissions increase for about 2650% compared to recycled aluminum.

I created the Recycling Scanner, because I wanted to offer a convenient way to keep the overview in a complex recycling system.