The Iowa Senate may start voting later today on changes to Iowa’s “Bottle Bill” — keeping the five cent deposit on cans and bottles of beer and pop, but sending three cents of each deposit to support redemption centers that accept the empties.
The centers currently get just one cent of every nickel and more than 200 have closed. Grocery stores have long complained about being required by law to accept empties and pay back deposits. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says this could be the year for changes.
“You have about a third of Iowans who want it the way it is, about a third who want it gone and about another a third of Iowans who wouldn’t mind expansion (of the containers covered by the deposit fee) and taking it to 10 cents,” says Dawson, who is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “These are the ideas we hear all the time, but I think post-pandemic there’s enough frustration out there just the current nickel and all the unredeemed money and all that cash that it out there.”
Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says at this point in the pandemic, 25% of cans are being returned for the deposit.
“That means that 75% of the cans are somewhere else,” Jochum says, “they’re either in our recycling bins or they’re in the landfill — and someone’s got that money because we all paid that nickel.”
Jochum and other lawmakers point to an estimate indicating wholesalers who distribute beer and pop to retailers are able to keep about $48 million in unredeemed deposits annually. Jochum and Dawson made their comments this weekend on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
A House bill that makes slightly different changes in the Bottle Bill is on today’s House debate calendar.