116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Newstrack: Legislature could adjourn without bottle bill debate
Mar. 30, 2015 9:00 am
BACKGROUND
The Iowa Legislature passed a bottle and can recycling law on April Fools' Day 1978.
The bill entered the world with bipartisan support, including the backing of current Gov. Terry Branstad. That continued for many years, and there were attempts to expand it to include milk bottles, sports drinks, water and non-carbonated soft drinks.
There have been previous efforts to raise the handling fee to help redemption center operators who said they needed it to cover overhead costs - lights, heat, wages and insurance, for example - that have increased over the past 36 years.
And there have been attempts to eliminate it all together.
They all died.
WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE
According to legislative lore, it's not an official session unless there's a gambling debate.
The same might be said of bottle bill debates. However, the state's gaming law has seen more changes than the bottle and can recycling law.
So far this year, there has been no bottle bill debate and it appears likely there won't be.
'I tried, but it's going nowhere,” Rep. Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa said, about her bill, House File 234. It would increase the 'handling fee” distributors pay retailers or redemption center operators from one cent to two.
The handling fee is part of the five-cent deposit consumers pay the retailer when purchasing carbonated or alcoholic beverages. They get their nickel back when returning the container to a store or redemption center.
The Department of Natural Resources estimated a 93 percent redemption rate in 2000. It has declined to 86 percent, or 1.65 billion container, a year. The return rate for beverage containers not covered by the law is 26 percent, according to 2012 Iowa State University study.
There is a bill that House Environmental Protection Committee Chairwoman Megan Jones, R-Spencer, calls a 'precursor” to changing the bottle bill - most likely eliminating it.
HF 541 would provide up to $250,000 from the DNR's Solid Waste Alternatives Program to create a hub and spoke recycling program. The idea is to establish hubs - regional recycling processing centers in large communities - and spokes in smaller communities that would deliver recyclables to the hubs.
A subcommittee on the bill will meet at 8 a.m., March 31, in the House lounge.
(PUBLISHED: Plastic bottles move down a sorting line at the Can Shed in southwest Cedar Rapids in December.) (PUBLISHED: Workers (from left) Pat Tinstman, Diane Drievold and Cynthia Vaughn sort plastic bottles by distributor Tuesday at the Can Shed in southwest Cedar Rapids. The company collects and sorts aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles from area grocery stores as well as taking collections from the public. The company employs 40-50 workers and sorts about 1.5 million cans per week and about 200,000 plastic bottles per week.) From left: Pat Tinstman, Diane Drievold, and Cynthia Vaughn (all of Cedar Rapids) sort plastic bottles by distributor as they work at the Can Shed Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001, in southwest Cedar Rapids. The company collects and sorts aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles from area grocery stores as well as taking collections from the public. The company employs 40-50 workers and sorts about 1.5 million cans/week and about 200,000 plastic bottles/week. (w/s)
Ed Fallon candidate for the Democratic nomination for Iowa Governor counts customers' bottles and cans with Michelle Readnour of Cedar Rapids at the Can Shed on Thursday, May 25, 2006, in southwest Cedar Rapids. The business handles 1.5 million cans, 250,000 plastic bottles, and 12,000 cases of glass bottles each week.
A pile of clear glass sits in a bunker at City Carton Recycling before being ground up a shipped out to glass refineries Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011 in Cedar Rapids. The city of Cedar Rapids is thinking about ending curbside recycling of glass. (Brian Ray/ The Gazette)
A pile of clear glass sits in a bunker at City Carton Recycling before being ground up a shipped out to glass refineries Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011 in Cedar Rapids. The city of Cedar Rapids is thinking about ending curbside recycling of glass. (Brian Ray/ The Gazette)
Daily Newsletters