Canit: Making it easier to return and recycle cans and bottles

Each year millions of euros worth of returnable cans and bottles are left unrecycled in Finland. Finnish startup company Reinto has developed a solution to this problem with its Canit recycling app.

The Canit mobile app offers a new way to return and recycle empty cans and bottles. It brings together the owners of deposit cans and bottles with those who are willing to earn money by returning them to shops on behalf of the owners.

Sysart selected as partner for developing iOS and Android native app

Reinto already had a PWA demo of Canit when the company selected Sysart as its partner for developing a native app for both iOS and Android based on the demo.

“It was vital for us that the partner we selected was excited about our idea. We were keen to work on the project together with a partner that was really committed to the idea. It was also important to us that our partner definitely had the resources required to see the project through to the end,” says Jarkko Suomalainen, CEO of Reinto.

The project schedule was tight: the client wanted to see the first version of the app within three months. Project leader Juuso Haikonen took responsibility for developing the Android app himself and selected Joonas Haaparanta to develop the iOS version. Pekka Astala and Keijo Koivupalo also did a great job as backend
developers.

“The app was coded using React Native, so the same code base could be used for developing the app for both operating systems. Firebase was used for database communication, initially straight from the app and later using the Firebase Cloud Function. The Node.js server is also used for money transfers,” says Joonas
Haaparanta, explaining the technologies used in the solution.

After the first three months and the client had reviewed the app, the team further developed the user interface on the basis of the updated UI layouts. In addition, the analytics were improved before the app was published. “It was really easy to work with Sysart, and we had good communication all the time. Together we developed the world’s best app for recycling cans and bottles!” Jarkko Suomalainen states.

The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Appstore.