Our participation in Based Africa is driven by our awareness of the waste management issues that plague Lagos, our home city, and the world. As a team, we have past experience developing non-profit, eco-friendly apps, engaging in voluntary community cleanups, and even participating in Climate-related competitions. These experiences have allowed us to recognize the need to contribute to developing novel solutions to the problems of waste sorting and management that plagues our city, and the world. We believe that innovative solutions are essential to addressing the pressing waste management issues in Lagos, and the African continent.

This year alone, the Lagos state government has issued two major directives regarding waste management. A ban on the use of styrofoam "take-away" packs and an impending ban on single use plastic. This makes it mandatory for bussiness owners to find substititutes to many of these materials they currently use. While these directives are steps in the right direction, they will take years to implement. This is why Postera is important, we have developed a simple dApp that allows individuals, households, schools, bussinesses & institutions to earn some amount of revenue from proper disposal of their trash. We have established contact with local recycling partners who are set to purchase plastic, paper, glass & other forms of trash from us. Money earned in this manner is seamlessly redistributed to our users in crypto.

Our connection to the region is deeply rooted in our team’s understanding of the local context and the unique challenges faced by its residents. We are committed to working collaboratively with community members to create sustainable practices that not only address waste management but also empower individuals to take ownership of their environment. Through our participation in Based Africa, we hope to share knowledge, gain insights, & collaborate with like-minded organizations to drive meaningful change across the continent.

Improper Waste Disposal:
Improper waste disposal is a big problem in Lagos. The city produces a lot of trash because of its growing population and busy businesses. There are two major ways to dispose trash in Lagos. Either through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) or local trash collectors. The issue is that LAWMA could be rather infrequent in their collection & local trash collectors cannot be trusted to dispose of trash properly, probably because there is little incentive to do so. This creates a situation where collected trash is disposed off in gutters, street sides, highways and water bodies.

Lack of Accountability in Waste Management:
Lagos struggles with accountability in waste management. Waste collection is often unreliable, and there is no clear way to track where trash goes. This allows people to dump waste illegally, especially in slums and waterways. Authorities have a hard time monitoring and enforcing waste management rules, leading to neglect. Without proper oversight, pollution gets worse, and bad waste management practices continue.

Low Awareness of Eco-Friendly Practices:
In Lagos, many people do not know about eco-friendly practices or the importance of proper waste disposal. Residents and businesses often don’t understand how bad waste habits can affect the environment. Simple actions like recycling and composting are not commonly practiced. Without education about these benefits, people continue to burn trash or dump it in the wrong places. This lack of understanding makes it hard to create lasting change and build a culture of sustainability in the city.

Limited Job Opportunities in Waste Management:
Waste management jobs in Lagos are often seen as unimportant due to the relatively low wages. There is relatively little support for recycling programs or green businesses, so many people miss the chance to help improve the city’s waste situation

Postera addresses waste management issues in Lagos by using leveraging Base's smart wallet solutions to create a transparent, efficient system for waste disposal. Our platform incentivizes proper waste management by offering payments and rewards to individuals for disposing of their trash responsibly. This encourages eco-friendly behaviors and reduces the improper disposal of waste, which is a major problem in the city.

Through Postera, local community members, waste collectors, and recyclers are connected in a decentralized system that tracks every step of the waste disposal process. This ensures accountability and prevents illegal dumping. By introducing a token-based reward system, we not only motivate individuals to participate in proper waste disposal but also create new job opportunities within the community, as more people are encouraged to get involved in waste collection and recycling. Postera also encourages community participation by highlighting current and upcoming clean up activities in the local community that intrested individuals and groups can participate in.

The potential impact of Postera in Lagos is significant. By promoting responsible waste management, we can reduce pollution, enhance public health, and improve overall living conditions. Additionally, by offering financial incentives, we foster a culture of sustainability and environmental responsibility. Over time, Postera has the potential to transform waste management practices in Lagos, making the city cleaner and more eco-conscious, while empowering its residents to actively participate in the solution.

Technical Challenges:
During the course of building Postera, we had issues connecting to the Base network from the React code. We also had challenges with configuring gas when sending transactions to the smart contract when trying to call a function with the smart contract. The direct consequence of this issue was that the Base network was requesting for too much gas for a simple transaction. Fundamentally, this problem mostly stemmed from the inexperience of our fullstack developer with building web3 products. At the Based hackday at Yaba, Lagos we received much needed support from the organizers that allowed our developer to undestand solutions to the misconfigurations that were a roadblock up to that point.

We encountered some issues intiallizing Usdc token for admin deposit and user withdrawal during the development of the project, so we used ether as the currency whilst we continue testing different means of implementing the usdc token. While we are submitting the project with ether as the currency, we are confident that we will implement USDC for admin deposit and user withdrawal before launch.

Due to our geographical location (Nigeria, Africa), we had considerable difficulty in creating a Coinbase developer account. It is important to point out that this problem is not unique to us and every builder from Nigeria also experiences it. At the Based Hackday, we were told to simply connect with VPNs, while the team worked on a solution to the problem.

Design challenges:

Creating a user-friendly flow that is inclusive enough to cater to the needs of the locals and market men and women in Nigeria was a big challenge as they currently have no knowledge of the blockchain and find it difficult trusting it. We had to build a platform that was straightforward and convincing. We allowed users create their wallets during the sign up of the app so that would be easier for the users.