TN's Tasmac liquor bottle buyback is ambitious, but it's a long shot

A month after the successful implementation of a pilot ‘liquor bottle buyback scheme’ in Nilgiris district, the Madras High Court directed Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd (Tasmac) to extend the scheme across the state. The plan looks environment-friendly but has many bottlenecks which need to be cleared before universal implementation.

In April, environmentalists raised a hue and cry, demanding that used liquor bottles be taken back by the manufacturers to protect the wildlife from hazards of the trash that is found lying all around. The Madras High Court immediately passed an order, which resulted in the implementation of the unique ‘liquor bottle buyback’ scheme. A record 19 lakh bottles were sold under the scheme between May 15 and June 14 in Nilgiris district alone.

It is claimed that most of the bottles found in elephant corridors are hazardous for the tuskers who get hurt, at times fatally, due to broken glass pieces.

Subsequently, the district administration implemented the scheme in May and started recovering about 80,000 bottles a day from 76 outlets. Tasmac charged an additional Rs 10 per bottle on the MRP while selling liquor. So, when the customer returned the bottle, he or she got back the Rs 10. The scheme received an overwhelming response and was quickly implemented in Coimbatore, Dindigul and in other places where Tasmac has outlets close to national parks or wildlife sanctuaries.

Also read: Your takeaway food, bottles form half of ocean plastic waste: Study

The Madras High Court observed that the scheme’s success rate was 63 per cent in the Nilgiris and 59 per cent in other places. Encouraged by the results, the court asked Tasmac to consider extending the scheme across the state. The enterprise, however, pointed out difficulties and challenges in implementing the scheme.

Health hazard due to bad smell

The Federal spoke to some Tasmac employees, who said the major challenge was the bad smell emanating from used bottles. “There is a lack of space for storing the recovered bottles. Also, the bottles smell bad. We are already short of space when it comes to storing fresh liquor cases (boxes). Protecting wildlife is important but it should not be at our cost. The bad smell is a health hazard for us,” said a Tasmac employee from Nilgris, on condition of anonymity.

The employee added that so far they haven’t received any orders from the Tasmac head office on what to do with the recovered bottles.

N Periyasamy, state president of the Tasmac Employees Union, told The Federal that the management has not given any clear guidelines on recovering the used bottles. “It just said buy back the bottles. It doesn’t say whether we need to buy the used bottles which are not damaged or we buy even the broken ones. Secondly, the salesmen have to maintain a separate account on the number of bottles the outlet has recovered. It is an additional workload for them,” he said.

Periyasamy also said that there have been frequent complaints against Tasmac employees for selling liquor above MRP. Therefore, the buyback scheme is escalating the problem.

“The Tasmac employees are not selling liquor above MRP by their own choice. They are being pushed to do so by the political and police forces. Following this scheme, many employees fear they may be compelled to create fake accounts because a customer can buy liquor from one outlet and sell it to another. It happens so that one outlet receives more bottles while the other doesn’t receive many,” Periyasamy said.

Will the bottles be recycled?

Tasmac came into the retail liquor business in 2003 and by 2004 it was running its own bars. It would then collect the used bottles itself and auction them through tenders. From 2005, it started to call for tenders to run the bars on lease. The tender also states that the bars should take care of the used bottles.

“The bars sell the used bottles to scrap dealers, who sell them to recyclers. The recyclers then clean the bottles and sell them to the breweries and distilleries. Now, with the new scheme, if customers start selling the used bottles again to Tasmac, it will be a loss for the bar owners. When the scheme gets implemented across the state, the bar owners will definitely raise objections,” said D Dhanasekaran, a Tasmac employee who is close to the developments on this issue.

Also read: Want to save water? Know your water footprint first

Dhanasekaran suggested that the recovered bottles stored in each outlet be taken to a common place and from there be sold to prospective buyers.

“The biggest challenge lies here. Where are they going to store all these used bottles? Will the buyers take broken bottles? If they refuse to take damaged bottles, what are we supposed to do with them or how are we going to dispose of them? These questions are still not addressed,” he said.

No more a profitable business

Simson, proprietor of AN Bottles in Chennai, who is also a scrap dealer and recycler, said that recycling liquor bottles is no more a profitable business.

“Tasmac liquor is sold in different types of bottles, including plastic ones. In beer and brandy alone we have 15 kinds of bottles. Every bottle can be recycled. While the undamaged bottles can be cleaned and sold to distilleries, the damaged bottles and plastic bottles are crushed and used for some other purposes. But generally, the scrap dealers take the damaged bottles without paying for them, while buying the undamaged ones,” he said.

Simson added that earlier there were one or two breweries and distilleries, so the used bottles could be sold to any company. “That time we scrap dealers had the upper hand,” he added.

“Some 20 years back, bottles would fetch us Rs 3 apiece. But now, there are so many breweries and distilleries, each coming out with its unique bottle with the company emblem embossed on the bottle itself. So if we recycle them, we can’t sell them to other companies but only to that particular company. They buy the bottles from us for 80 paise to Rs 1.50 apiece. That is a loss for us. Also we have stopped taking bottles from bars because our human resource won’t pick up dirty bottles kept in unhygienic conditions,” Simson added.

What the other states are doing

In 2018, Beverages Corporation (Bevco) in Kerala made liquor manufacturers accountable for the disposal of used bottles. Under the  Suchitwa Mission, the bottles would be recovered, segregated and put for recycling or reuse. It also introduced a buyback scheme in 2019, where people got Rs 3 per beer bottle and Rs 15 for 1 kg of plastic bottles.

In Goa, the glass bottle recyclers collect the used bottles from restaurants, hotels and bars. After recycling, they sell it to breweries and distillery companies, since companies consider recycled bottles to be cheaper than the manufacturing cost of new bottles. Earlier, those companies bought the recycled bottles officially through standalone alcohol vendors. But now they are getting the bottles only through glass bottle recyclers, due to the advantage of bulk purchase. The standalone alcohol vendors in the past had a buy back scheme but eventually they opted out.

In Bengaluru, one of the country’s biggest liquor markets, the Karnataka State Beverages Corporation Ltd started distributing liquor in cartons to prevent adulteration and duplication. The carton comprises 75 per cent paper, 20 per cent plastic and 5 per cent aluminium. These packs can be recycled, but they can be disposed through scrap dealers only.