EduCycle is a safe, free, and sustainable textbook reuse platform designed to reduce educational inequality and book waste. It connects students who want to donate or request physical textbooks with NGOs and educational institutions that act as trusted collection and distribution hubs.
The platform prioritizes offline and low‑income students, ensures user safety, and tracks real social and environmental impact.
Every year after exams, millions of usable textbooks are discarded or resold, while many students—especially from low‑income or offline backgrounds—struggle to access affordable study materials. Existing solutions focus on selling books or informal exchanges, often ignoring safety, fairness, and accessibility.
EduCycle creates a circular system for textbooks:
- Students can donate or request books for free
- NGOs and schools act as verified pickup and distribution points
- No phone numbers, no payments, no home deliveries
- Safety‑first, NGO‑verified, and impact‑driven
- Donate physical textbooks
- Request textbooks
- Upload and download study notes (PDFs)
- Track personal impact (books reused, credits earned)
- Request books in bulk for students
- Collect donated books
- Distribute books to needy or offline students
- View impact reports and analytics
- ❌ No phone numbers or personal contact sharing
- ❌ No home pickup or delivery
- ✅ Only verified public pickup locations (NGOs, schools, libraries)
- ✅ In‑app chat opens only after request approval
- ✅ NGO‑verified distribution
- ✅ Feedback and reputation system
- Student requests a book and selects a safe pickup location
- Backend creates a request with
pendingstatus - Donor or NGO reviews and approves/rejects the request
- On approval:
- Temporary in‑app chat opens
- Pickup details are coordinated
- Student collects the book and confirms receipt
- Feedback is submitted and impact metrics are updated
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Python 3.11
- FastAPI
- Async APIs
- Firebase Authentication (Google Identity)
- Cloud Firestore (database)
- Firebase Storage (images, PDFs)
- Cloud Functions (logic‑ready structure)
- OpenStreetMap (Nominatim API) for nearby NGO suggestions
Collections:
users– student and NGO profilesbooks– donated book listingsrequests– book request lifecyclechats&messages– approval‑based in‑app chatngo_requests– bulk NGO requestsfeedback– ratings and trustresources– uploaded notes and PDFsimpact_metrics– reuse and sustainability tracking
EduCycle tracks:
- Number of books reused
- Number of students supported
- Estimated money saved
- Estimated paper waste reduced
This data supports NGOs, CSR partners, and sustainability reporting.
- NGOs & Schools: Distribution and verification
- CSR Partners: Fund book reuse initiatives and platform sustainability
- Institutions: Host donation drives and pickup points
💰 Students always use the platform for free.
Revenue is generated through institution partnerships, CSR‑funded campaigns, and paid impact analytics.
This project was built as part of a hackathon and is:
- Functionally complete as an MVP
- Technically scalable
- Designed with real‑world constraints in mind
- Ready for pilot testing with NGOs or schools
Team Name: QuadSquad
Project: EduCycle
Focus Areas: Education Access • Sustainability • Safety • Social Impact
- Automated NGO verification
- Advanced impact analytics
- Multilingual support
- Mobile‑friendly optimizations
- Government and district‑level integrations
This project is intended for educational and social‑impact use.
EduCycle – Reuse books. Reduce waste. Reach students.