Tamil Nadu: Digital platform to track liquor bottle buyback
The scheme has been implemented since the beginning of this year in Chennai and other districts, following a Madras High Court directive aimed at addressing environmental menace caused by discarded bottles.
CHENNAI: Following reports of irregularities, the Excise Department has decided to introduce a digital platform to track and monitor a buyback scheme for empty liquor bottles. The bottles will be traced through QR codes using the latest technology.
The scheme has been implemented since the beginning of this year in Chennai and other districts, following a Madras High Court directive aimed at addressing environmental menace caused by discarded bottles.
Under the scheme, a consumer pays an extra Rs 10 per bottle and receives a refund when he returns the empty bottle to the liquor outlet of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac).
A senior official from Tasmac, seeking anonymity, said though the empty bottle refund scheme has been implemented, there has been no clarity on the return rate. "We have received reports that staff in many liquor outlets across the State refuse to collect empty bottles from consumers, citing work load, especially during peak hours," he added.
Stating that a physical verification of the return rate of empty bottles could not give correct data, and that it also consumes more time of Tasmac authorities, he said the present data shows only about 20% of empty bottles were collected, far short of expectation.
Explaining the introduction of a digital platform to track empty liquor bottles, the official said QR code stickers will come in a standard 20mm x 20mm size for all product labels.
"The shelf life of a QR code sticker will be minimum three years without any deformation or deterioration in normal atmospheric conditions," he said, adding "the digital platform and the QR code system will allow immediate activation when a product is sold and deactivation when returned".
Pointing out that an AI-driven fraud detection system will flag duplicate scans, suspicious activity, and out-of-range activations, the Tasmac official said, noting that every QR code transaction (activation, deactivation, exception handling) will be recorded with an immutable timestamp for audit purpose".
He said the system will also give key metrics for all stakeholders, such as total QR codes activated, return rates, supplier performance, and fraud detection status. "This new digital platform is expected to be implemented in a couple of months," he added.
