ECOMART- A Smart Circular Economy Marketplace Integrating AI for Sustainable E-Commerce

Abstract

The proliferation of consumer waste, driven by linear economic models, presents a critical environmental challenge. Existing digital marketplaces for second-hand goods are fragmented and lack integrated mechanisms to actively promote circularity—the continual use and recycling of resources. This paper introduces ECOMART, a novel web-based platform architected as a unified Smart Circular Economy Marketplace. ECOMART's core innovation lies in the seamless integration of three dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) modules into the user workflow: a Smart Price Detector utilising regression models for fair valuation, a Fraud Detection System employing classification algorithms to ensure listing integrity, and a Waste Segregation Module leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to categorise donated items for optimal recycling or reuse. Developed on the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js) with a Python-Flask AI backend, the platform provides an intuitive interface that unifies sellers, donors, buyers, NGOs, and recyclers. This research delineates the system's modular architecture, details the methodology and anticipated performance of its AI components, and presents a comparative analysis demonstrating its superiority over existing siloed systems. We posit that ECOMART's holistic, intelligence-driven approach significantly enhances transactional efficiency, user trust, and environmental stewardship by systematically diverting products from landfills and embedding circular economy principles into the core of digital commerce.