Digital Climate Action App Receives Global Climate Hack 2021 Award & People's Choice Award

Digital App Revolutionises The Conventional Recycling Process By Connecting Communities And Businesses To Local Recyclers To increase The National Recycling Rate​

When waste cannot be prevented, recycling is the next best option because it helps to protect our environment, saves energy, raw materials, and resources for future generations in both urban and rural areas in many developed and developing countries.

So, the question now is how can we manage waste wisely? Perhaps the answer is Raccoonia, an app built by two Software Engineering degree students from the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) along with two other team members from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC) and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) to solve recycling-related problems.

The Raccoonia app by Team Waste Buster comprising Yudhishthra Sugumaran (APU), Yap Seng Long (APU), Euvina Lim (TARUC) and Jason Ong (D&B), won third place in the global Climate Hack 2021 competition and also received the People’s Choice Award.

The inaugural Climate Hack 2021 organised by Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and Code for Asia attracted more than 500 participants from 129 countries to tap onto the power of technology and international networks to innovate for climate action. The distinguished panel of judges comprised professionals from United Nations, SAP, SIF and Venture Capital. 

Raccoonia Digitalises And Revolutionises Recycling Process

Yudhishthra said, “Raccoonia was born to digitalise and revolutionise the conventional recycling process by connecting communities and businesses to local recyclers as well as to increase the national recycling rate using their exclusive Raccoon Rider program. The app incorporates AI to simplify the process of finding recyclers to recycle users' wastes”.

“Waste Buster aspires to increase the national recycling rate by fostering a culture of recycling instead of a movement because there already are numerous initiatives in place to promote recycling, but most people are still hesitant to start recycling. 

“Through this, we will continue to develop Raccoonia in the future as we are eager to solve the low recycling rate in Malaysia and hopefully, in other countries too”. 

He also mentioned that APU has played a huge part in his success as an ICT Software Engineer, specifically helping him perfect his skills in developing Raccoonia and gave credit to his mentor, Ms. Abbhirami Sivarajan and other lecturers for motivating the team by providing insights when they were developing their solution.