Bill to expand Iowa's bottle deposit law gains bipartisan support

Iowa's beverage container deposit law, which currently applies to carbonated drinks and alcoholic beverages, would be expanded to include water, juice and sports drink bottles, under legislation being introduced in the Iowa House.

The bipartisan measure, proposed by Rep. Andy McKean, R-Anamosa, has 40 House co-sponsors. House File 2155 would retain the state's 5-cent deposit on bottles and cans, and grocery stores would continue to redeem beverage containers unless there is a nearby redemption center.

"This is not a Republican bill. This is not a Democratic bill. This is an Iowa bill," said McKean, who expressed optimism the measure can win the 51 votes needed for House approval. He was joined Tuesday by Rep. Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque, and a host of other legislators at an Iowa Capitol news conference.

In an effort to increase the number of Iowa redemption centers that accept cans and bottles, the bill would increase the handling fee for retailers and redemption centers from 1 cent to 2 cents. 

Isenhart, the ranking Democrat on the House Environmental Protection Committee, said more Iowans are becoming interested in comprehensive materials management policies and programs. He suggested that modernizing the bottle bill, which was adopted in 1978, should reflect an evolution in consumer tastes, changes in product packaging and the economics of recycling.

Evidence of the need to expand the beverage container law can be seen in his own community of Dubuque, Isenhart said. "I see plastic all over the basins and creeks and running into the Mississippi River, and it ends up being ingested by who knows what wildlife downstream," he remarked.

McKean's legislation is being proposed at the same time Iowa's grocers have been lobbying to repeal the state's nickel deposit law.  The Iowa Grocery Industry Association has helped to spearhead a push to replace the bottle deposit requirement with an expanded statewide recycling and litter control program that would eliminate the need for grocers to redeem cans and bottles.

Grocers have complained for years about the bottle bill. They describe it as a nuisance and say they don't want to be bothered with redeeming nickel deposits on unsanitary and smelly cans and bottles.

Michelle Hurd, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, issued a statement Tuesday that said Iowa’s can and bottle redemption law was progressive for its time, but she believes Iowans are ready to see a comprehensive law that makes it easier for all Iowans to recycle and has a clear litter prevention strategy. She cited recent polling commissioned by her organization that supports her organization's stance, including elimination of the nickel deposit.

"We oppose further entrenching Iowans in an outdated, inefficient and unsustainable system. We support a 21st century sustainability and recycling solution.” Hurd said.

A  study released earlier this month by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources shows a recovery rate of 71 percent for containers covered under the bottle deposit law, which is down from 86 percent in 2007.  However, that 71 percent is still significantly higher than the national average of a 29 percent recovery rate.  DNR officials said Iowa's reduction in the recovery rate is consistent with other states that have a bottle bill. 

Independent polling through the years has shown widespread public support for Iowa's beverage deposit law. A statewide poll conducted in February 2017 by J. Ann Selzer, president and owner of Selzer & Co., showed that 77 percent of Iowans surveyed favored either retaining the current beverage container law or expanding it. The poll, which had responses from 700 active Iowa voters, found broad support from Republicans (74 percent), Democrats (81 percent) and independents (81 percent). Nearly nine in 10 Iowa voters (88 percent) said the bottle bill has been good for the state.

In the Senate, Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee, said Tuesday he hadn't seen the details of McKean's bill and was reserving judgment. Sen. Robert Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said his initial reaction to McKean's bill is that it is better than some other proposals he's seen to revise the state's beverage container law.

 Hogg said he would be against any proposal that would put people out of work who are currently employed by bottle and can redemption centers, and any plan must increase or maintain the redemption rate. He also said it's important to recognize that hundreds of charitable groups across the state raise money by collecting cans and bottles from local residents for community projects.

Troy Willard of the Can Shed Redemption Center in Cedar Rapids spoke in support of McKean's bill at the news conference. He said officials representing redemption centers have annually made pilgrimages to the Iowa Capitol to plead their case for enhancing the beverage deposit law, making him feel like he was part of the movie, "Groundhog Day." 

"After 40 years, it is only reasonable and logical that we make this bill better,"  Willard said.