Two legislators are moving forward with their plan to junk the way most Iowans redeem their five-cent deposit on cans and bottles. A bill which expands the types of containers worth five-cents also calls for an end to grocery store recycling. You’d take your cans to a redemption center instead. Senator Merlin Bartz of Grafton says you could also throw your pop cans in curbside recycling bins, and the state would use the deposit money for environmental programs. He says the bill was designed as a litter control major and the state has now advanced beyond that issue.Representative Bob Brunkhorst of Waverly says the change would be phased-in over four years. He says “it’s not destroying the bottle bill, but actually expanding it.”Brunkhorst’s proposal will be considered by a House Committee in three weeks. Advocates of the so-called “Bottle Bill” say Iowans recycle 90 percent of their beverage containers and there’s no need to change something that’s working so well.
