Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) has withdrawn its plastic bottle return and deposit refund scheme, making a major policy reversal less than a year after the initiative was launched on a pilot basis. According to an order issued by the Bevco Managing Director, Bevco outlets across Kerala will stop accepting empty plastic liquor bottles from Thursday, and the shift system that had been introduced at Bevco outlets has also been discontinued.
The decision was taken citing increased workload on outlet employees and environmental concerns associated with handling and storing large quantities of returned plastic bottles. The Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS) was introduced in October last year on a trial basis at 20 Bevco outlets in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. Under the scheme, customers purchasing liquor in plastic bottles were charged an additional ₹20 as a refundable deposit, which was returned when the empty bottle was brought back to the same outlet.
Bevco had initially planned to expand the plastic bottle return scheme across Kerala, allowing customers to return bottles at any Bevco outlet regardless of where the liquor was purchased. The corporation had also announced that the DRS would be implemented at all Bevco and Consumerfed outlets from January, but the statewide rollout never materialised.
Officials said the expansion faced several hurdles, including opposition from Consumerfed, difficulties in identifying a suitable company for collection and recycling of the returned plastic bottles, and operational challenges at retail outlets. One of the major problems was that some customers began returning large quantities of empty plastic bottles, often brought in sacks, creating storage, handling and sanitation issues for Bevco employees.
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The withdrawal of the scheme marks a significant setback for Kerala’s attempt to introduce a deposit refund mechanism for plastic liquor bottles, which had been seen as a possible model for improving plastic waste management in the liquor retail sector. Bevco has not announced any alternative system for collecting or recycling plastic liquor bottles following the discontinuation of the pilot project.
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