Two schoolboys and best friends have reached the final stages of a national competition to find tech solutions to environmental challenges.
Henry and Raphael, both 11, made it to the final of the BT Young Pioneer Award as part of Tech4Good 2021.
Their project is an idea for an app called Fighting Fly Tipping that will allow people to anonymously report examples of rubbish left out on the street to councils.
The eventual winner will receive up to £10,000 in funding and will be supported by BT experts to help make their project become a reality. The winner will be announced on July 14 at the Tech4Good 2021 live event.
The inspiration for “Fighting Fly Tipping” came after the two Lochinver House School pupils were spending much more time walking in lockdown and spotting rubbish in the street and bins full to the brim.
Fighting Fly Tipping will be a free app that will use the data based on users’ location to report illegally dumped rubbish.
Potters Bar residents Henry and Raphael believe this will help councils respond to more cases of fly tipping so there will be less rubbish potentially harming wildlife.
Henry said: “There is nothing like this around, and fly tipping is a massive issue. Sadly not many people report fly tipping, so we hope our app will encourage more people to do so.”
Raphael added: “Even though our project is only a concept at the moment, we’re already thinking about what else we can do, so for example extending the service to include public bins that might be full so they can be emptied, helping to reduce loose litter.”
Marc Allera, CEO BT’s Consumer Division, said: “It’s incredibly inspiring to see so many young people have so many wonderful ideas for this year’s entries. Using technology for good has been at the heart of BT Young Pioneer for over a decade, and once again this year’s finalists and their incredible ideas have the potential to make a real difference to each of our lives.”
Tech4Good is completely free and designed to help people across the UK – from children and their parents, older and more vulnerable people, to job seekers and small businesses.
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