Goa Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS): Industry Alerts on Higher Costs of Packaged Food Items, Responsibility of Waste Management on Goans and Tourists and Regulatory Overload for All in FMCG Supply Chain.
National, January 28th, 2026: The Goa Government has decided to start a Deposit Refund Scheme from 1st of April 2026. In this scheme, Goans and tourists will be required to pay extra for daily food items sold in plastic and glass packaging like bottles, pouches, multilayered wrappers and cartons, etc.
Concerns for consumers:
-The consumers will be required to save the empty wrappers, bottles, etc. and bring them to collection centres and get their refund amount (from Rs. 2 to Rs.10 per packet) in their bank account through digital mode.
-Goans will now have to pay twice for the management of the same waste stream by way of periodic household waste management fees as well as the deposit amount under DRS.
-Huge effort on the part of consumers who will now have to save the dirty used packages and bring them to collection points. The collection points will be insufficient and far away for which the urban dwellers may have better access than rural or semi-urban consumers who may end up forfeiting the deposit amount.
The cost and complication of the scheme outweigh the gains for the state, its people, industry and most importantly, the environment.
India has sufficient recycling capacities and processes for handling plastic, metal and glass waste. Goa already has a consistent and functional door-to-door collection, segregation, composting and waste management system. Goan cities were recognised for their waste management efforts at the national level in the Swach Survekshan 2024-25 Awards.
India’s FMCG industry which is already compliant with the regulations of the Plastic Waste Management Rules is now compelled to comply with duplicate regulation in Goa State for the same purpose. The industry valuation stands at approximately ₹21 lakh crore, and this sector contributes a major share in the GDP of Goa State. However, this Scheme is introduced in absence of a lacuna in waste management and without a proper scientific and technical evaluation done by experts. Neither a consultation with the local bodies, consumers, retailers, waste pickers, recyclers, waste management agencies, industry stakeholders, environmental experts was done nor substantial environmental/recycling data evaluated.
With the exemption of Micro enterprises from participating in DRS, the founding argument to reduce littering in Goa will remain unfulfilled alongwith distortion in competition in price sensitive categories like packaged snacks, water, soft drinks, juices, etc.
Due to the operational, implementational and design flaws which have a clear potential to disrupt market dynamics and bring inconvenience to Goans and tourists, we request the Honourable Chief Minister to immediately defer the implementation of DRS in Goa and constitute a joint working group comprising industry Associations, consumer representatives, local bodies and technical experts.
