CoastalClear

Meet the team

We're a group of sustainability enthusiasts from diverse fields and backgrounds, united by our common passion to tackle the issue of coastal waste on our beautiful island home!

Team members: Krithika Prasad (Product), Emmanuel Oh (Software Engineer), Tan Eu Zin (Software Engineer), Shawn (Designer), Vaelyn (Strategy)

Problem statement

We are addressing the lack of visibility of marine litter in our coastal areas, which is critical to supporting the clean-up efforts undertaken by volunteering organizations.

This is a growing problem as evidenced by NEA & our user research. Based on data published by the NEA since 2019, the amount of marine waste collected has increased by 11%. Although NEA collected 4 million kg of waste from 10 beaches, this excludes hidden hotspots that may be missed (such as mangroves or less popular coastal areas). Despite NEA increasing coastal cleaning frequency from 4 times a week to twice daily, the problem persists and there is a dependency on local volunteer and community groups to support coastal cleanup efforts. User research conducted by the team with 10 volunteer groups revealed a persistent problem that impeded the effectiveness of their cleanups: the lack of visibility into the level of cleanliness of our coastal areas. This leads to redundant efforts as a result of organizing a cleanup in a recently cleaned areas, an inability to match volunteer cleanup efforts to trash hotspots and improper/ inefficient manpower allocation.

This is an important problem to solve because of the mounting environmental impact on our marine biodiversity and significant public health risks to Singaporeans. Ineffective clean-ups mean that marine trash, mostly composed of plastic, degrades into microplastics on our shores. Marine animals ingest them, mistaking them for food. Toxic bacteria thrive on them, damaging ecosystems and causing infections in humans. In a 2019 study carried out by NUS marine scientists, toxic bacteria was found on the microplastics scattered around Singapore's coastlines capable of causing coral bleaching and triggering wound infections in humans.

Proposed solution

Our mission is to leverage technology to amplify the impact of voluntary efforts. We want to empower the volunteering community to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of coastal cleanups. Our solution is a predictive analytical and location booking tool that provides better guidance to volunteers on where rubbish will land, what areas need more frequent cleaning and what areas have been cleaned to ensure volunteering resources are bring directed to the spaces that need it the most!