Recykal’s DRS scheme in Rudraprayag wins accolades

The Rudraprayag District Administration in Uttarakhand and Recykal has implemented a Digital Deposit Refund System. Recykal also won the Digital India Awards 2022 in the category of ‘Digital Initiatives in Collaboration with Startups’ for the initiative.

Tourists/citizens are required to pay a deposit amount (Rs. 10) when purchasing products with plastic packaging and were refunded via cash or UPI after responsibly returning the plastic bottle to one of Recykal’s many Deposit Refund Centres. While this encouraged citizens and tourists to dispose of waste responsibly, it also provided an additional source of income for the local community of waste pickers, who retrieved littered QR-coded plastic items and earned a reward for their efforts.

Recykal worked with over 733 shops and strategically placed over 12 deposit refund centers with the assistance of the local district administration to bring traceability to plastic material. Various awareness programmes and aggressive educational marketing were used to ensure tech adoption. Furthermore, the regions were designated as ‘plastic litter-free zones’ by the local administration. Field teams were also deployed to ensure that rules were followed and that plastic waste was properly disposed of. Due to the positive response to the initiative in Kedarnath, it was reportedly expanded to other parts of Uttarakhand, including Chopta and Tungnath.