Changes to the state's bottle bill have cleared the Iowa House and Senate. (Photo by Katie Akin/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The Iowa Senate gave its approval Monday to sweeping changes to the state’s can and bottle redemption law — commonly known as the bottle bill — that will triple the amount of money redemption centers receive per container and will allow many retailers to stop taking back the containers they sell.
Senate File 2378 passed with a 30-15 vote after being amended and broadly approved by the House in April.
“I’m glad this is happening,” said Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who shepherded the bill to passage. “It’s time. We’ve been working on this thing for years.”
It’s the first overhaul of the bottle bill since its enactment in 1978, which began the practice of consumers paying 5 cents per container that is redeemed if they return the container to be recycled. Grocers have long griped about being forced to retake unsanitary empty containers, and owners of some redemption centers whose primary focus is collecting those containers have said they need more income to survive.
The new legislation increases the handling fee those centers collect to 3 cents per container, up from the current 1 cent. That fee is paid by beverage distributors, but the distributors get to keep the full 5 cents for containers that aren’t redeemed.
Schultz said redemption centers will expand and other new ones will open because of the change, but he acknowledged that most grocery stores will likely stop redeeming the containers.
The legislation allows retailers to stop taking the containers if they are licensed to prepare ready-to-eat food or are located within a certain distance from a redemption center or mobile redemption center. That distance is 10 miles in counties with 30,000 or more residents and 15 miles for smaller counties.
Senate Democrats who opposed the changes said the legislation will make recycling less convenient and, as such, less likely to happen.
“I really see this as the first step of just totally eliminating the bottle bill,” said Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo. “The bottle bill makes a difference. It helps beautify Iowa. Because if you have no value on that can that you have, it gets tossed out the window.”
He said the bill should have expanded the variety of containers that carry the deposit, such as water bottles.
Some Republicans, including Schultz, had entertained scrapping the bottle bill altogether if they were unable to get enough support to amend it this session.
▪ You must give Iowa Capital Dispatch credit, including https://iowacapitaldispatch.com and author.
▪ If you publish online, include the links from the story, and a link to Iowa Capital Dispatch.
▪ Stories may be edited for in-house style or to shorten. More substantial changes should be noted as additional and conducted by your publication.
▪ You can publish our graphics and any photos that are credited to Iowa Capital Dispatch with the stories with which they originally appeared. For any other uses, you must seek permission from us at [email protected]
▪ If you share the story on social media, please mention @IowaCapDispatch on Twitter and iowacapitaldispatch on Facebook.
▪ Don’t sell ads against the story. Feel free, however, to publish it on a page with ads you’ve already sold.
▪ Content should not be published behind a paywall; please reach out to the editor-in-chief if you have questions about your particular paywall system.
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch May 23, 2022
The Iowa Senate gave its approval Monday to sweeping changes to the state’s can and bottle redemption law — commonly known as the bottle bill — that will triple the amount of money redemption centers receive per container and will allow many retailers to stop taking back the containers they sell.
Senate File 2378 passed with a 30-15 vote after being amended and broadly approved by the House in April.
“I’m glad this is happening,” said Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who shepherded the bill to passage. “It’s time. We’ve been working on this thing for years.”
It’s the first overhaul of the bottle bill since its enactment in 1978, which began the practice of consumers paying 5 cents per container that is redeemed if they return the container to be recycled. Grocers have long griped about being forced to retake unsanitary empty containers, and owners of some redemption centers whose primary focus is collecting those containers have said they need more income to survive.
The new legislation increases the handling fee those centers collect to 3 cents per container, up from the current 1 cent. That fee is paid by beverage distributors, but the distributors get to keep the full 5 cents for containers that aren’t redeemed.
Schultz said redemption centers will expand and other new ones will open because of the change, but he acknowledged that most grocery stores will likely stop redeeming the containers.
The legislation allows retailers to stop taking the containers if they are licensed to prepare ready-to-eat food or are located within a certain distance from a redemption center or mobile redemption center. That distance is 10 miles in counties with 30,000 or more residents and 15 miles for smaller counties.
Senate Democrats who opposed the changes said the legislation will make recycling less convenient and, as such, less likely to happen.
“I really see this as the first step of just totally eliminating the bottle bill,” said Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo. “The bottle bill makes a difference. It helps beautify Iowa. Because if you have no value on that can that you have, it gets tossed out the window.”
He said the bill should have expanded the variety of containers that carry the deposit, such as water bottles.
Some Republicans, including Schultz, had entertained scrapping the bottle bill altogether if they were unable to get enough support to amend it this session.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
Senior reporter Jared Strong has written about Iowans and the important issues that affect them for more than 15 years, previously for the Carroll Times Herald and the Des Moines Register. His investigative work exposing police misconduct has notched several state and national awards. He is a longtime trustee of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which fights for open records and open government. He is a lifelong Iowan and has lived mostly in rural western parts of the state.
Iowans value integrity in their government. Free and independent journalism is what keeps our public servants accountable and responsive to the people. That’s why Iowa Capital Dispatch, a nonprofit, independent source for quality journalism, is working every day to keep you informed about what government officials are doing with your money, your freedom and your safety.
DEIJ Policy | Ethics Policy | Privacy Policy
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.