The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is considering taking a page out of the pilgrimage site of Kedarnath, Uttarakhand book of pollution control in order to counter the rising waste in Goa caused by disposable plastic, beer bottles, and aluminium cans.
A company called Recykal and the GSPCB are in talks to introduce the Deposit Refund System in Goa just as it was done in Kedarnath.
What is the Deposit Refund System?
The DRS is a system that provides an incentive to the consumers to bring back their waste for a refundable deposit that is collected during the time of purchase. Recykal’s DRS is designed to solve the challenges of inefficient collection and manoeuvring of waste. By placing a value and giving an incentive to the customer, increased waste recovery is enabled for better recycling.
When implemented in Goa, any consumer of a product in a disposal bottle will be charged a ‘deposit’ amount at the time of purchase. The consumer will be able to deposit the bottle at a predesignated collection center in exchange for the deposited amount. With each deposit, the consumer will be given a unique QR code on the bottle or can that can be scanned to redeem the amount.
The GSPCB has presented the idea to the stakeholders in a meeting with them. “The system has already been implemented in more than 40 countries in the world. We have implemented it in Kedarnath and collected more than 2 lakh disposal bottles and cans. And now, the government wants to extend it to 4 other locations in Uttarakhand” said Ekta Narain, co-founder and VP of Recykal. An additional 10 Rs will be charged for the bottle under this system, he added. Narain presented the system to environment minister Nilesh Cabral on June 5, 2023. There will be a unique QR code on the bottle or can that can be scanned after its use at the collection centers. Scanning the QR will enable them to recover the deposit amount. If someone discards the bottle anywhere other than the collection center, anyone who finds it can scan the code to redeem the deposit amount for themselves. For bulk deposits, manual collection centers will be set up.
The GSPCB intends to associate with Indian Oil along with retailers across Goa. Collection stations will be installed at Indian Oil petrol pumps and retail stores. Depositing stations will also be available in other locations for consumer convenience.
Mahesh Patil, chairperson of GSPCB said that the environment minister and PWD minister, Cabral has offered PWD premises to be used as collection stations. “We provide the technology which enables the QR code to be put on the bottles. Most products already have QR codes at present, we enable this QR code to be built inside the existing QR code” said Narain. Patil said that the Board is discussing the system and it will be implemented in two or three months. The implementation of the system will be done at no cost to the government
GSPCB is in talks with Recykal to implement a Deposit Refund System for the collection of disposable plastic bottles, beer bottles, and aluminum cans in a bid to counter pollution caused by the uncontrolled disposal of such waste. Collection station to be set up across Goa to implement this system.
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