By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Special Writer
MONROE — Don’t waste it, just swap it.
MySwapp is a local, grassroots startup that has created an app aimed to end wastefulness by allowing users to post and swap items in their local area.
The app is free to download and use and has partnered with plantabillion.org to donate $5 for every item posted on the app.
After graduating from Monroe Township High School, Shreyas Hirday, 19, began to learn how to develop mobile apps during the summer before he started college. He is a current undergraduate at Rutgers University studying electrical and computer engineering and was able to use his knowledge with the help of Rutgers Mobile Application Development Club to develop MySwapp. As chief engineer, he is in charge of constructing the app and overseeing the technical development of the product.
He and MySwapp CEO Vivek Bedi met last year and came up with the idea for the app that would prevent people from throwing out or wasting items they no longer need by swapping them for items they do need with neighbors.
“We got to work and we spent the whole first six months developing and refining the app, thinking of the best possible design and in April we officially launched and presented it at New York Tech Day and a lot of people thought that the idea was really good and downloaded it as soon as they heard about it,” Mr. Hirday said.
The app received more than 80 downloads in the first few days of its launch and now has 150 users and is still growing every day, according to Mr. Hirday.
“It’s an app to smartly get rid of old items and get new items in exchange. This helps your wallet by not wasting items or reselling them for 10 percent of price and helps the environment by not throwing them away,” Mr. Hirday said.
Using the app is like bartering with a technological twist. Users look for items they want and offer something in exchange for them. Once both parties accept, MySwapp lists nearby locations. Both parties agree to meet at a nearby location. Once a user is at a meet-up location, he/she presses “I’m here” on the app and MySwapp uses special technology to call both parties from a MySwapp phone number. The swap is performed and both parties go home with their new items.
MySwapp assures anonymity by not providing personal numbers, emails or names.
The app can be used to swap items such as clothing, furniture, toys and books.
While the goal is to service the entire United States, most of the user base right now is located in New Jersey and New York.
“In the future we hope to gear this toward college students who have old textbooks and stuff they need to swap when they’re moving out of dorms that they can’t keep,” Mr. Hirday said.
He continued, “We’d love for people to give it a try. The more people that post items the more there is to swap and the more it helps the environment.”
For more information about the app, visit www.myswapp.com.
