Plastic Tax Stamps on Liquor No Good for Environment

The state of Uttarakhand in India has invited bids for full polyester holographic tax stamps to replace paper-based stamps on alcohol products, amid protests that the polyester stamps contravene a country-wide government ban on single- use plastic items below 100 microns in thickness.

Although the ban was imposed in July 2022, this did not prevent the Uttarakhand excise department from releasing a tender, more than a year later, for 36-micron polyester stamps, for application to 1.5 billion bottles of liquor.

The situation in Uttarakhand is now being used as an example by environmentalists and activists to persuade other excise departments to stop applying polyester stamps and start looking for more sustainable replacements.

Currently in India, approximately 60% of states use liquor tax stamps in the form of polyester holograms, while 40% use paper-based labels. At this point, it is not clear whether all polyester holograms will eventually disappear from the tax stamp industry in India, but the pressure is definitely on for excise departments to look for sustainable materials, products, and systems.