Rochester teen creates app that will make going green easier

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A tech savvy Rochester teen with a passion for the environment is hoping to make a difference with the upcoming launch of a mobile app.

The junior at Mayo High School has created a mobile app to help users reduce waste and littering in our communities

With a little help from her mom, friends, and mentors, Anushka Kollengode developed the app known as “Green3″.

The app was developed to locate garbage and recycling containers.

She says it is especially helpful for people in areas they aren’t familiar with.

“You can simply open the app and it can find anywhere in the database, it can find you the nearest trash or recycle bin,” Kollengode said. “So, it can help us as a community reduce the trash that we see on a daily basis on highways, roadways, and anywhere else in any state.”

Kollengode took her idea to the Ann Bancroft Foundation and won a $500 grant in December.

She says the money will be used to get her app on the market and into the hands of users.

The app also boasts a couple cool features, one where you can add a trash or recycling bin where one wasn’t before.

“If you have an item and you don’t know if it’s plastic or if it’s cardboard, garbage or whatever, you can simply take a picture and at the bottom of the picture, it will show you if this item is a water bottle that’s suppose to be recycled for example,” Kollengode said.

The Ann Bandcroft Foundation was happy to support Kollengode’s passion for the environment and dream of not making the current climate situation worse for future generations.

“Whatever a girl can dream, right,” Ann Bancroft Foundation Executive Director Ethelind Kaba said. “She just has to apply and say this is what I’m dreaming, this is what I want to explore, and this is what I’m going to use the grant money for. So as long as there is a mentorship piece and mentorship component, then the Ann Bancroft Foundation will fund that activity or experience.”

“So I thought an app could probably help because even if you help a little bit, it’s still helping a lot,” Kollengode said. “Because if a lot of people help a little, it makes a big impact.”

You can’t get the “Green3″ app just yet.

Kollengode plans to have it available by the summer for both iOS and Android devices after a few more adjustments are made.

There are two round of grant applications each year for those interested in applying, one in the spring and one in the fall.

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