Bottles and sense

By Edward Stanek

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Late in the 1970s, Iowans consumed carbonated and alcoholic beverages from about 2 billion bottles and cans each year. The roadsides portrayed Iowa as unsightly when the grass was short, and posed unseen hazards for farm and government mowers when the grass was tall. Metals and glass along with associated manufacturing cost the consumer more than the products encapsulated in the containers. Natural resources were being wasted with one-time use just to take up landfill space. Energy was wasted to effectively manufacture trash.

Inspired by myriad outdoor enthusiasts and conservation groups, Gov. Robert Ray and the Iowa Legislature enacted legislation placing a 5-cent deposit on carbonated beverage and liquor containers that became effective in 1979. The “Bottle Bill” produced dramatic results. More than 90 percent of the containers covered by the law were recycled. Conscientious citizens and charitable organizations found a new revenue stream.

Today, an estimated 870 jobs in the recycling system are supported by the process.

However, the beverage mix now includes profuse bottled water consumption and sports drinks that are not carbonated, thus allowing more than 500 million of them to slip through the Iowa deposit system.

Critics of the deposit system prefer repealing the Bottle Bill or replacing it with a single-stream curbside recycling system that mingles materials that are later separated. But only about 26 percent of these containers make their way through curbside recycling.

The Bottle Bill critics are not supported by Iowa's last 33 years of experience. And recent polling by Selzer & Co. shows

84 percent of Iowans support the Bottle Bill.

Recycled containers can be processed, reused and re-purposed, creating yet more jobs. Iowa is a leading exporter of these materials because the Bottle Bill keeps the materials pure by separating the containers from other recyclables.

If the law is changed, it should include the non-carbonated beverage containers.

Professor Dermot Hayes of Iowa State University studied what would result from an expanded Bottle Bill to cover these containers. In addition to conservation and environmental benefits, his models show that including non-carbonated plastics would create more than 300 new jobs and compensate grocers and redemption centers more for their work by doubling the handling fee on all plastics.

The Bottle Bill has served our state well. After 33 years, make this law even better.

Edward Stanek, of Des Moines, is the former Iowa Air and Land Quality director and a major proponent of the original Bottle Bill legislation. Comments: ejstanek@aol.com