By Aditya · Team EcoEPR · WeMakeDevs × AWS Environmental Hacks, Track 03 (Waste and Energy)*
## The gap we saw
India is the world's third-largest generator of e-waste, and over 90% of it passes through informal collectors ([Down To Earth](https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/amp/multi-pronged-approach-needed-to-solve-india-s-growing-e-waste-problem-92265)). Since April 2023, brands have had to meet yearly recycling targets only through registered recyclers, by buying EPR certificates on the CPCB portal ([analysis by LKS](https://www.lkslaw.com/insights/articles/e-waste-management-rules-2022-an-analysis)). In between sits a gap: collections nobody records, photos anyone could fake, and prices nobody can check.
## What EcoEPR does today
- An operator captures an item with a photo and the collector's Hindi voice note, and gets back an identified item with a confidence score for every field.
- The server prices the item from a rate card, never from the AI's guess.
- A gatekeeper verifies, holds, or rejects each upload, and officers clear held uploads in a validation queue.
- Every photo and voice note is archived as evidence and opened through a signed link.
- A hotspot map shows where e-waste piles up and where to send a van.
- A pickup settles only when the recycler's gate enters the PIN from the collector's phone. The simulated UPI payment then arrives.
- Four roles (Admin, Officer, Operator, Viewer) each see only what they can act on. Once the server has admin credentials for the user pool, an admin can change a teammate's role from the Team screen.
## Built on AWS
AWS Amplify Hosting serves the app, and Amazon Cognito holds the users and roles. Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL keeps the records, and Amazon S3 keeps the evidence. Amazon API Gateway, AWS Lambda, and Amazon DynamoDB, with a DynamoDB Stream, run pickups and payouts.
## What fought back
- **A role change is two calls.** Cognito has no single “change group” call, so the app adds the new group before removing the old one. It also refuses to change the role of the admin making the request.
- **Phones need HTTPS to stay signed in.** Production marks the session cookie `Secure`, so testing on a phone over a plain-HTTP network address quietly signed us out.
- **Our tests filled a recycling licence.** Each demo handoff routes 37.5 kg to a battery line licensed for 4,000 kg a day. After about 106 handoffs, the router correctly refused the next load mid-test.
## What's honest about it today
Credits and UPI payouts are simulated, and the recycler directory and rate cards are sample data. The handoff runs on a sample load rather than the item priced at intake.
## Where it goes next
- Connect the handoff to the item priced at intake.
- Bring the same pipeline to WhatsApp, a channel collectors already use.
- Add Collector and Recycler roles with their own screens.
- Add a real UPI payout rail.
- Give the server an IAM role and read secrets from AWS Secrets Manager.
- Add real recycler registrations and a licensed rate feed.
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