PROJECT OF THE YEAR

Deposy

Please describe your project briefly and simply.

With Deposy we want to define waste recycling in a new way. It is our goal to sort and separate packagings accurately. In order to achieve this, we want to offer people a financial incentive for returning plastic packagings or collecting them in the environment.

How did the idea come up?

The idea came from Markus Gebhardt, who in his summer vacation was shocked by the immense pollution on a beach and then started to think about how we could somewhat curb this global deluge of waste. In his public IOTA blog, he wrote down the idea and looked for support for the project.This is how our small, motivated team was formed.

Which target group does your project address?

Advantages for companies using Deposy: • Marketing (environmental awareness, image gain) • Commitment to CO2-neutral production by 2050 • Conservation of resources • In some areas: deposit system saves production costs • Government support programs • Compliance with legal requirements Advantages for participants: • Financial advantage – more money returned than paid in deposit • Clear conscience (environmental awareness) • Plus point for individual carbon tax Economic advantages: • Economic costs (40 billion per year) • Achievement of national/international climate targets • Health consequences

What‘s the vision you‘re building on?

The use of secondary raw materials reduces the energy required for the production of plastic products by up to 50 percent. The fact that manufacturers can avoid producing new plastics thanks to high- quality recyclate also contributes to climate protection. Both have a positive effect on the CO2 balance. Deposy can thus contribute to achieving the climate targets that have been set.

Where do you use IOTA technology?

IOTA is used for the payments, because we can avoid transaction costs here. Moreover, transfer and validation of the product data are carried out via the Tangle. The plastic packagings thus are given a sort of identity that is stored unchangeably.

Which IOTA technologies do you use?

The Trinity wallet, selective permanodes and the Pyota Python library are currently in our focus. Over the course of further development, more might be added.

What hardware and software do you use apart from that?

We are currently building our prototype on a Raspberry Pi as a Python program and have chosen two cameras to capture the QR codes. One is an infrared camera and one an ordinary webcam. We then transmit everything to an external monitor. We are also considering some external possibilities provided by our partners, for example an API by Omoku and a hard/software solution by Lidbot. Did you consider other DLTs? No, we already had been convinced of IOTA and its technological possibilities right from the beginning.

What is your main reason for opting for IOTA?

The system we have been developing is based on IOTA‘s characteristics which are perfectly suited for our purposes, namely distributed ledger technology. IOTA is a young cryptocurrency that enables fast, secure and cost-free transfer of data and finances. A traditional system relying on bank transactions could not meet the requirements. The preconditions for successful implementation are scalability without exponentially increasing costs, a transparent system as well as decentralized and secure process control. With IOTA, micropayments can be made together with a transfer of data. The Deposy project aims at keeping plastic waste accurately separated with the help of a specific deposit system and by offering people an incentive to collect and sort plastic waste. We hope to curb the global deluge of waste somewhat like this.

Does your project have concrete goals? If so, what are they?

Targeting CO2 emissions. Deposy can be used to collect reusable plastics and to actually reuse them. For example plastic cups, if the overall ecological balance makes sense and if there is a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. In addition, it can lead to plastic waste being more accurately sorted, which in turn enables us to recycle it appropriately. Recycling not only conserves our natural resources by recovering valuable raw materials, but it also relieves the climate.

Who‘s behind the project?

The basic idea for our system came from Markus Gebhardt. Within our team, which formed via Telegram, we are now elaborating it, trying to implement the best possible ideas in our prototype.

What are your skills and experiences?

There is a lot of knowledge in our team. Among us are engineers, developers, project managers, electronics specialists, designers and sustainability experts.

What motivated you to launch this project

and what motivates you to continue it? Our passion for the IOTA technology and our wish to shape a sustainable world keep driving us to give our best time and again. The positive feedback we received when we went public with our idea motivated us even more to go ahead with full steam.

Can the Community help you? If so, how?

First and foremost, it is important to spread the word about this idea and to sensitize the broad public for it. To date, we are also still depending on donations to be able to pay for the costs involved and for the first prototype. Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are always welcome, too, of course. We also would like to use some of the ideas that are already around in the Community, for example the AION (selective permanodes) developed by Olaf van Wijk (https://ecosystem.iota.org/projects/aion).

Concluding...

Deposy offers an incentive to return used packagings. If you buy a product equipped with a special QR code, an additional deposit is charged. After using the product, you can return the packaging to a Deposy machine and get the deposit back, for example in the form of an IOTA payment to your digital wallet. Via certain cooperation partners, the deposit can also be paid to your account in the national currency.