Meijer is a prominent supercenter chain in the Midwest, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have over 270 locations across six states and have partnered with the Great Lakes Cleanup Program, an environmental non-profit, to increase sustainability and give back to the community.

Over the past several years, Meijer’s sustainability efforts have intensified and expanded to Michigan’s beloved beaches. Meijer has purchased and named BeBots, beach cleaning robots that sift through sand for waste collection, which have been carrying out cleanups around the Great Lakes since early 2025.

Environmental Awareness with BeBot is a web-based application that builds community engagement with Meijer’s sustainability efforts. The core features include real-time graphs and other easily digestible data visualizations that inform users about how Meijer’s BeBots are helping the environment. Integrated educational modules about a range of topics provide a solid foundation of why cleanup initiatives are so important and what Meijer is doing to contribute.

The site also features a gamified point system. Completing educational modules awards users with points, called Wave Points. A signup portal acts as a hub for individuals and organizations to volunteer for cleanup events across the Midwest, also awarding Wave Points. A sponsor portal enables organizations to support Meijer in its environmental mission.

Our Environmental Awareness with BeBot fosters public engagement and raises awareness of Meijer’s green-initiatives.

The front end of our app uses ReactJS, with a back end utilizing Java with Spring Boot, and Azure Custom Vision. The platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Data is managed through an Azure SQL database, and Power BI dashboards provide real-time graphics of trash cleanup efforts around the Great Lakes region.