Madras HC grants 3 months for Tasmac to install liquor bottle reverse vending machines

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras High Court that the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) will install reverse vending machines to collect empty liquor bottles and reduce the workload of its employees.

Based on the directions by a High Court bench, the State government implemented the empty bottle return scheme at Tasmac liquor outlets to prevent environmental damage.

When the matter came up for hearing again before the special bench comprising Justices N Sathish Kumar and K Rajasekar, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said the existing bottle-return scheme faced practical difficulties and that Tasmac has decided to install reverse vending machines to collect empty bottles and reduce the workload of employees. He sought three months' time to implement the system.

Accepting the request, the judges granted three months' time and directed the authorities to expedite the installation process. They also ordered that the existing system should continue until then and adjourned the hearing.

Under the bottle buy back scheme, consumers should pay an additional Rs 10 per bottle, which would be reimbursed when they return the empty bottle. However, the move quickly earned the ire of Tasmac staff, who complained about inadequate manpower to implement the scheme. The corporation also faced other difficulties, including lack of space at many Tasmac outlets to store the bottles that the consumers returned.

To address these issues, it then mooted installing vending machines that can collect the bottles returned by the consumers. It was tried in some places, including in Chennai, but is yet to take off fully.