codegreen – A sustainability centric barcode scanner

codegreen enables consumers to make greener purchase decisions by providing instant and personalized product information.

I’m happy to announce that the first version of codegreen has launched on the Google PlayStore. Codegreen is a barcode scanner App that displays information about product ingredients and packaging. Although apps with similar functionality exist, codegreen would focus on sustainability with the goal of providing some guidance for consumers who want to make a greener buying decision when they are filling their basket in the supermarket.

• Easy to use barcode scanner app
• >45.000 products from Germany (March 2020)
• Display sustainability information about the ingredients & packaging at a glance
• Additional personal “alarms” for vegetarian, vegan, gluten, halal
• Based on the Open Food Facts Database
• completely free

Next steps

codegreen is far from being finished and doesn’t even come close to what I had in mind for the app. This has partly to do with my personal limitations. I’m no professional developer, so progress is often limited to my skill level. Also this project has cost me a lot of time and money. Any support would be greatly appreciated, either by donating (can be done from within the app), spreading the word about codegreen or leaving a positive review on the PlayStore. I’m welcoming anybody who would be interested to join the project and take ownership in some areas, for example:

• React Native development (Android client)
• React Native development (iOS client – not existing yet)
• UX/UI design
• Marketing & PR
• Research & content creation
• Feature development
• Come join us and help make codegreen a much better app!

Roadmap

The roadmap depends very much on how much support I can receive from the community. More help directly translates into more features.

• multilanguage support (currently the app is German only)
• support more countries
• iOS client
• detailed recycle information for all packaging
• customization with personal favorites, shopping lists
• …still completely free for everybody…

CO2 emission API

When I started the project, I wanted to create a device that can make CO2 visible for everybody. That did prove to be challenging and as it turns out, finding information about carbon dioxide emissions in food and packaging production is nontrivial as information is scattered and and few is available in a machine readable format. I’m currently applying for funding to start working on a CO2 index API that would provide information on greenhouse gas emissions for the production of certain foods like a tomato, a banana, an avocado, a liter of milk etc. This includes data about the production, the packaging, the transport method (trucks, container ship, local transport) and the length of the transport from door to door.

The Climate Crisis: People want change

• Population is very aware of the climate crisis
• Government is unable or unwilling to act according to the Paris Climate Agreement
• Industry isn’t focussed on sustainability
• Consumers are left alone looking for solutions