Sep 12, 2025
There’s nothing artificial about the intelligence of four local high school students that created an award-winning Recycling Chatbot.
Students Krispa Chapagain, Christina Htay, Sapna Patel, and Emily Liang of Mainland Regional High School recently developed an award-winning AI Recycling Chatbot that helps connect younger students with environmental projects as part of their STEM for Change Club.
“Our goal was to develop a sustainability focused chatbot app that would motivate students to reuse recycling materials,” said Chapagain.
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The bot prompts users to search for materials and guides them to a corresponding reuse project. For example, a search of paper generates instructions on how to make seed starters from old newspapers.
The group showcased their project at the statewide STEAM Tank Challenge hosted by the New Jersey School Boards Association where they placed in the top ten and took home a $500 prize. The challenge invites students to develop solutions to environmental or societal issues impacting our communities.
The team is hoping to advance the chatbot for further use and looks forward to sharing it with the community. Check out the project at:
recyclingchatbot.live