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

多年来，由于气候变化的生存威胁，砍伐森林、植树造林以及积极减少纸张使用的必要性在循环经济讨论中占据了突出地位。然而，随着全球金融交易的增加，购买纸质收据的激增--作为购买兑换、保修索赔和退货、退税、个人支出跟踪等的凭证。报告显示，大约90%的纸质收据最终被扔进了垃圾箱，因为它们主要是存储和维护不便。然而，尽管顾客不想要，许多零售商仍然自动打印收据。全球估计每年产生3000亿张纸，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20万棵树才能生产出112亿张收据(ParcelHero，2021)。由于这些收据大多包裹着有毒化学物质(如双酚A和双酚S)，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大多最终被填埋，当填埋时，每年向大气中排放约28,000吨二氧化碳(CarbonTrust，2021)。在生物多样性减少和气候变化加速的时代，纸质收据似乎是一种挥霍无度的解决方案。因此，有证据表明，将收据数字化代表着在遏制甚至可能扭转气候变化的破坏性影响方面迈出的重要一步。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，出于隐私和身份盗窃的考虑，客户对在柜台上共享个人数据存在分歧。其次，尽管只有少数零售商以短信和电子邮件的形式发送电子收据，但顾客报告说，在搜索长长的消息历史记录或电子邮件收件箱来查找收据时，他们感到非常不舒服。第三，目前并没有鼓励客户选择数码收据的措施，这项解决方案旨在开发一套首创的“二维码数码收据系统，以进行安全和无纸化的金融交易”，消除纸质收据对环境的影响，尽量减低零售机构的交易成本，并鼓励客户选择数码收据。

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.