Iowa bottle bill expansion to be studied, but action not likely this year

Acknowledging there's little chance for action this year, an Eastern Iowa senator has recommended further study of expanding Iowa's bottle bill to bring more beverage containers under the nickel deposit requirement.

“We've had this conversation nearly every year and been at loggerheads on this for a decade or more,” Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said Tuesday after hearing from proponents and opponents of Senate Study Bill 3188.

The bill would bring sports energy drinks, water products and flavored teas under the state's beverage container control law that currently applies to soda, beer, alcoholic beverage and selected other containers.

Adding 500 million containers to the recycling stream would make SSB 3188 a jobs bill, said Troy Willard of the Can Shed in Cedar Rapids.

Sheri Cunningham of Pella Redemption told a three-member Senate Appropriations subcommittee she would double her staff to six. She has to count 40,000 containers a day to make a profit, she said. The expansion and doubling the handling fee on plastic containers to 2 cents would allow her to pay employees more than minimum wage for the first time in 11 years.

However, Scott Sundstrom, speaking for the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, called it a jobs bill for out-of-state manufacturers who would see gains at Iowans' expense.

Jerry Fleagle of the grocers' group said expansion is the wrong way to go on the bottle bill. Like many retailers, he'd like to see it eliminated and replaced with a single-stream recycling program that would be more efficient.

Expansion would only increase costs to consumers, added Mike Heller of the Iowa Beer Wholesalers. Studies of the bottle bill's effectiveness ignore the impact in Iowa's many border communities where the redemption rate often exceeds 100 percent, he said.

In a nod to that opposition, Bolkcom called for an interim committee to study the situation before the 2013 legislative session.

“We can't move a bill without a little compromise … so let's continue the conversation,” he said.

The committee should look at eliminating grocers and distributors from the redemption process.

“Independent recyclers might be the way to go,” Bolkcom said.

If the interim committee concept is approved by the Senate, Rep. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who chaired a House subcommittee on a similar bill, thinks there would be interest in SSB 3188.

“I can't speak for my caucus, but I don't think it would be rejected,” Schultz said.