The Digital Refund System (DRS) scheme, which enables consumers to claim a Rs 10 refund by scanning a QR code on the wrapper of plastic bottles in order to help minimise plastic waste, has got a tepid response in the hill towns ofUttarakhandwhere it was introduced last month with the onset of theChar Dham yatra
The scheme was started in Kedarnath and Chopta (base for Tungnath temple trek) last year and expanded to Yaumunotri and Gangotri this year. Around 4 lakh QR codes were distributed under the scheme this year. Of these, an estimated 25% (around 1 lakh) bottles with the codes were sold. Around 47,000 (less than half of the bottles sold so far and around 12% of those given to shopkeepers) have been returned. Officials are hopeful that the scheme will gather steam as the Char Dham yatra progresses (the yatra has recently completed a month and has around five more months to go). According to pilgrims and officials, the major drawback of the scheme is the dependence on Internet connection, which is erratic in these high-altitude hill towns. Lack of information, with shopkeepers not conveying the workings of the scheme to pilgrims, is also a problem. In some cases, shopkeepers keep the wrappers, claim the profit and the plastic bottles get dumped down the hillsides as usual.