Country of Residence
United States
Age
16
Project title
RETECH
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
RETECH is an AI- powered electronics recycling kiosk that allows people to exchange unwanted devices for money, making recycling more convenient and rewarding while reducing e-waste and giving old technology a second life.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The idea for RETECH started when my friends came over to my house one day. We were looking for markers when we randomly came across a bin filled with old electronics, including gaming consoles, chargers, and other devices we hadn't used in years. What surprised us was how much money we had originally spent on these electronics, only for them to end up sitting in a bin collecting dust. We started discussing what we could do with them. Our first thought was to take them to a pawn shop or a gaming store that buys used electronics. However, we realized that the prices these stores offered were so low that it almost wasn't worth selling them. On top of that, finding a store nearby that accepted all these different electronics wasn't easy. That's when I had an idea. What if there was a machine located in convenient places around our community where people could bring their old electronics and receive money for them? We started thinking about how we could combine AI technology with a recycling kiosk that could identify devices, evaluate their condition, and offer customers a fair estimated price. That is what inspired us to create RETECH, a concept that could make electronics recycling easier, more accessible, and rewarding while helping reduce electronic waste.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Electronic waste is becoming one of the fastest-growing environmental problems in the world. According to United Nations statistics published in 2026, the world generated approximately 69 million metric tons of electronic waste in 2025. This shows how serious the problem is becoming as more people continue to replace their old electronics with newer technology. One of the biggest problems is that people don't always know what to do with their old devices. Many electronics end up sitting in drawers or being thrown away because recycling locations can be difficult to find. Even when people try selling their electronics, they often receive offers that make the effort feel pointless. This problem matters to us because technology plays such a big role in our everyday lives. We constantly upgrade our devices but rarely think about what happens to the old ones. We experienced this ourselves when we discovered a bin full of unused electronics at my house. We believe recycling shouldn't be inconvenient. Through RETECH, we want to make it easier for people to recycle their electronics while also giving them a reason to do so.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Our solution is RETECH, an AI-powered recycling kiosk designed to make trading in unwanted electronics as simple as using an ATM. Here's how it would work. A customer approaches the kiosk and selects the type of electronic device they want to recycle, such as a phone, tablet, laptop, or another supported device. They then place the device inside the scanning compartment. Our proposed AI system would take approximately two to three minutes to identify the device's model and analyze its physical condition, including visible damage. Based on this information, RETECH would generate an estimated value and display an offer on the touchscreen. The customer could either accept or decline the offer. If they decline, their device would be returned. If they accept, they could choose a payment method such as Venmo, cash, or credit. The kiosk would then securely store the accepted device until it is collected for processing. Devices that can be repaired would be refurbished and resold, while those that cannot would be sent to recycling partners to recover valuable materials. We hope to eventually introduce RETECH kiosks in shopping malls, libraries, and retail stores so people can recycle electronics during their everyday routines. We have already developed an interactive 3D concept model that demonstrates the customer experience. Our next step would be creating a physical prototype and testing the scanning technology to determine how accurately it can evaluate devices. Our goal is to create a system that benefits both customers and the environment by making recycling convenient, accessible, and rewarding.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
RETECH is currently in the concept development stage, so we haven't installed any physical kiosks or processed electronic devices yet. However, we have taken our first steps by developing a 3D interactive model and creating a demonstration video that explains how our technology would work. Our goal is to make electronics recycling more accessible and encourage people to recycle devices they would otherwise leave unused or throw away. We hope to measure our impact by tracking the number of devices collected, the number of customers using our kiosks, and how many devices are refurbished or responsibly recycled. During an initial pilot, our goal would be to test one working kiosk and collect at least 100 electronic devices. We would also gather customer feedback to understand whether the process is convenient and easy to use. In the long term, we hope to introduce RETECH in shopping malls and retail stores across different communities.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
What makes RETECH different is our goal of combining AI technology, convenient payment options, and broader electronics acceptance into one recycling kiosk. Companies like ecoATM already allow customers to trade in certain devices for money. However, we believe there is an opportunity to expand this concept. While ecoATM primarily focuses on phones and tablets, RETECH would aim to accept a wider range of electronics, including laptops and other smaller devices. Our goal is to eventually expand RETECH kiosks into shopping malls, libraries, and retail stores across different communities so people can easily access electronics recycling without having to travel far. Another important part of our idea is the proposed AI-powered scanning system. Rather than requiring a customer to determine their device's condition themselves, our kiosk would analyze visible damage and identify the device to help generate an estimated value. We also want to make the process simple and rewarding. Customers would receive an offer directly on the touchscreen and could choose whether to accept it. If they accept, they would have different payment options. Our innovation isn't necessarily inventing electronics recycling from scratch. It's finding a way to improve an existing process by making it more accessible to everyday consumers.
How many people are on your team?
3
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our team consists of three members: Chaitanya, Aarush, and Aryan. I am the idea creator and focus on developing RETECH's vision and business strategy. Aarush leads research on electronic waste and existing competitors to improve our concept. Aryan is our video editor, responsible for bringing our idea to life through visuals. Even though we had different roles, we all dedicated equal time and effort to the project.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next three months, we want to take RETECH from a small idea and turn it into an actual working machine. First, we plan to research the technology needed to build an AI powered kiosk that can accept different electronic devices, identify them, and check their condition. We also want to figure out how AI could estimate the value of each device and how the machine would safely store electronics after a customer accepts an offer. We hope to build on the 3D model and turn it into an actual physical machine that we can test and work on. We also plan to research the costs of building the machine and learn from companies that already exist, like ecoATM. In the future, we hope to bring RETECH kiosks to places like shopping malls, libraries, and retail stores to be accessible to the public. Overall, we want to connect with people and businesses that could help make our idea much better and bring it to life.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We want to encourage others to support RETECH by showing them how our idea can solve a problem. Many people have old phones, laptops, and other electronics sitting at home because they do not know what to do with them. Some of these devices are thrown away, which causes e-waste, even though they could still be useful to others. RETECH aims to make recycling easier by allowing people to place their electronics inside a kiosk, get an estimated value, and get paid for the devices they trade in. We plan to spread awareness through social media and presentations in our community and even globally. We also hope to connect with people who have experience in technology and business who can give us advice and help improve our ideas. We want to show people that recycling electronics does not have to be difficult. Our goal is to make the process simple and rewarding while helping reduce electronic waste in our communities to help better the environment.
