Committee action on a bill that would alter Iowa’s bottle deposit law has been suspended ’til Thursday, and it’s growing more likely that no changes will be adopted this year. The Senate Natural Resources Committee yesterday (Tuesday) considered a bill which would allow retailers and wholesalers to negotiate the redemption fees for cans and bottles, but Senator Mary Lundby, a republican from Marion, worried consumers might not get their nickle back. “We want to make it convenient for the grocers and we want to make it convenient for the convenience store, but what about me? Who’s going to make it convenient for me? And how is this bill going to make it convenient for the gentlemen (who) walks up and down in front of my farm, and picks up all the cans and bottles that are in the ditch and takes them to the redemption center?” Backers of the change that was proposed say it is possible retailers might pay less than five-cents-per can or bottle. Lundby says that’s unacceptable, and she moved to suspend action on the bill. “While I consider myself a very powerful and articulate woman, I’m not sure I’m any match for Hy-Vee and all their lawyers or Fareway and all their lawyers if they determine that they’re not going to give me my nickle back,” Lundby says. “I walked into that store and I bought my thousand cans of beer and I paid my five cents on my thousand cans and I’m going to come back and they say ‘Oh, by the way, we’re only going to give you two cents today.'” Senator Dennis Black, a democrat from Newton, conceeds there may be a stalemate on the bottle bill. “Do we absolutely eliminate the law? Some want to. Do we expand it? Some want to. Do we increase the fees that go for redemption? Some want to,” Black says. “So far, we’ve been unable to get any agreement on anything.”
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