QR Code-enabled Digital Receipt System for Secure and Paperless Financial Transactions (QR-CeRST)

多年来，由于气候变化带来的生存威胁，森林砍伐、植树造林以及积极减少纸张使用的必要性在循环经济的讨论中占据了突出地位。然而，随着金融交易在全球范围内的不断增加，购买纸质收据的数量也在激增，纸质收据可以作为购买交换、保修索赔和退货、退税、个人支出跟踪等的证明。报告显示，大约90%的纸质收据最终都被扔进了垃圾箱，因为它们不方便储存和维护。尽管如此，许多零售商仍然自动打印收据，尽管顾客不想要。据估计，全球每年生产3000亿张纸收据，消耗2500万棵树、180亿升水和2200万桶石油。在英国，每年必须砍伐大约20万棵树来生产112亿张纸质收据（ParcelHero, 2021）。由于大多数收据都涂有有毒化学物质（如双酚A和双酚S），这些化学物质与健康风险（如2型糖尿病、前列腺癌）有关，因此它们主要是不可回收的。因此，很大一部分纸质收据最终都被填埋，填埋后，每年向大气中排放约28,000吨二氧化碳当量（CarbonTrust, 2021）。在生物多样性正在减少、气候变化正在加速的时候，纸质收据似乎是一种挥霍的解决方案。因此，有证据表明，数字化收据是遏制并可能扭转气候变化破坏性影响的重要一步。然而，目前有三个主要障碍阻碍了数字收据的广泛采用。首先，由于担心隐私和身份盗窃，客户对在柜台上分享个人数据持反对态度。其次，尽管只有少数零售商会以短信和电子邮件的形式发送电子收据，但客户反映，在搜索一长串信息历史记录或电子邮件收件箱以查找收据时，他们感到非常不舒服。第三，目前对选择电子收据的客户没有激励措施。在此前提下，该解决方案旨在开发首个“安全无纸化金融交易的qr码数字收据系统”，消除纸质收据对环境的影响，最大限度地降低零售机构的交易成本，并激励选择数字收据的客户。

Over the years, due to the existential threats of climate change, deforestation, afforestation, and the need to actively reduce paper usage have figured prominently within circular economy discussions. However, with financial transactions being on the rise all over the world, so is the proliferation of purchase paper receipts -- which serves as proof of purchase for exchange, warranty claims and returns, tax rebates, personal expense tracking etc. Reports suggests that approximately 90 percent of paper receipts end up in the bin because they are mainly inconvenient to store and maintain. Nevertheless, many retailers still auto-print receipts despite customers not wanting them.Globally, it is estimated that 300 billion receipts of paper are produced annually, consuming 25 million trees, 18 billion litres of water and 22 million barrels of oil. In the UK, around 200,000 trees must be felled to produce the 11.2 billion paper till receipts printed each year (ParcelHero, 2021). Because most of these receipts are coated with toxic chemicals (such as bisphenol A and bisphenol S), which have been associated with health risks (e.g., type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer), they are predominantly non-recyclable. As a result, a significant portion of paper till receipts mostly end up as landfills, which when landfilled, emits around 28,000 tonnes of CO2e into the atmosphere per year (CarbonTrust, 2021). At a time when biodiversity is decreasing and climate change is accelerating, paper receipts appears to be a profligate solution.Hence, evidence suggests that digitising receipts represents a significant step in curbing and potentially reversing the devastating effects of climate change. However, three main barriers currently militate against the wide adoption of digital receipts. Firstly, customers are at odds with the sharing of personal data over the counter due to privacy and identity theft concerns. Secondly, although only a handful of retailers send digital receipts in the form of SMS texts and emails, customers report a huge discomfort in searching long lists of message history or email inboxes to find receipts. Thirdly, there are currently no incentives for customers who opt for digital receipts.It is on this premise that this solution aims to develop a first of a kind "QR-Code-Enabled Digital Receipt System for Secure and Paperless Financial Transactions" that eradicates paper receipts environmental impact, minimises the cost of transaction for retail establishments and incentivises customers that opt for digital receipts.