CHENNAI, 1 st Sep 26 — A pilot deposit-return system for glass liquor bottles, launched at TASMAC
outlets in Egmore, Chennai earlier this year and since scaled to two additional locations, has
recorded nearly 47,000 customer return transactions and disbursed more than ₹25 lakh in instant
digital refunds as of 24 August 2026, according to recent pilot data. This demonstrates clear
evidence that a QR-based return system can meaningfully shift how packaging is recovered at
some of India’s highest-volume retail counters.
Under the pilot, consumers pay a deposit on QR-tagged glass bottles at the point of purchase and
receive an instant digital refund upon returning the empty bottle at a dedicated in-store counter.
The bottles are then collected by authorised scrap vendors under TASMAC for processing. These
pilots are aimed at testing the deposit-return model before scaling it across Tamil Nadu’s wider
retail network.
Every headline metric has climbed sharply since the pilot’s early-July benchmark. Return
transactions are up nearly 575%, digital refunds disbursed have more than quadrupled, and
successful QR bottle authentications have grown over 300% to more than 2.56 lakh. The overall
return rate across participating stores has climbed significantly.
Murali Rathinam, Supplier at Albert Bar, Egmore, Chennai said, “I saw the RVM at the TASMAC
shop where customers brought used alcohol bottles to get their deposit back. The machine
evaluates the bottle and accepts it, after which it goes directly to the collection bag. The
customer gets their deposit back immediately after returning the bottle.”
The pilot is being watched as a potential model for Tamil Nadu’s broader approach to packaging
recovery, particularly for high-volume retail formats where manual, staff-dependent collection
has struggled elsewhere. Organisers say the coming weeks will focus on bringing every
participating store closer to the pilot’s best-performing counter before any decision on wider
expansion.
