5/29/2020 Bottle Bill Now in Question as COVID-19 Halts Many Redemption Centers | who13.com

https://who13.com/news/bottle-bill-now-in-question-as-covid-19-halts-many-redemption-centers/ 2/15

NEWS

Bottle Bill Now in Question as COVID-19 Halts ManyRedemption Centers

DES MOINES, Iowa — Though many restrictions are being lifted across Iowa,

Governor Kim Reynolds has extended the Public Health Disaster Emergency

Declaration until June 25th. That declaration still includes the suspension of retailers

being required to take back cans and bottles.

This requirement is a part of the Bottle Bill. It’s an over 40-year-old piece of

legislation in Iowa. The bill requires consumers to pay a 5-cent deposit when

purchasing a carbonated or alcohol beverage container and receive a 5-cent refund

Posted: May 27, 2020 / 09:30 AM CDT / Updated: May 27, 2020 / 09:45 AM CDT

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5/29/2020 Bottle Bill Now in Question as COVID-19 Halts Many Redemption Centers | who13.com

https://who13.com/news/bottle-bill-now-in-question-as-covid-19-halts-many-redemption-centers/ 3/15

when returning the empty bottle to a store or redemption center. It’s all to

encourage recycling instead of littering, but due to COVID-19 many redemption

centers are choosing to close down and in return recycling in this way has come to a

crashing halt.

“There’s millions and millions of dollars sitting in garages in the metro area, and

barns and sheds in rural Iowa, that are not returning to the economy, not recycling,

not recirculating and are waiting as pent up money to come back, but the people

can’t use it because they can’t get at it. They want their money back,” Mick Barry,

President of Mid-America Recycling in Des Moines said.

In a typical year, people will redeem and recycle 1.5 billion containers, according to

the Container Recycling Institute. That amounts to about $75 million of redemption

money that consumers get back annually. In a time where unemployment is

skyrocketing, Barry said the people and the economy need these redemption

centers, but so does the recycling industry.

The president of the Container Recycling Institute, Susan Collins, said up to 60

percent of recycled bottles and cans come from the 10 states, Iowa included, who

have deposit programs. Right now, that material isn’t coming in.

“We do 97 percent of all the glass in the state of Iowa through our Des Moines [Mid-

America] facility. Right now, we’ve lost 70 percent of that volume. It’s sitting in

garages right now. It’s not lost. We know right where it’s at, but it’s not being

recovered. In the meantime, the glass companies are feverishly looking for more raw

material,” Barry said.

While some stores, like a few Des Moines metro Hy-Vee locations, are choosing to

keep their redemption centers open during this pandemic, many other retail and

grocery stores are opting to keep them closed. The Iowa Grocery Industry

Association (IGIA) said it’s because the temporary relief of operating redemption

centers has allowed stores to focus their efforts on many of the necessary extra

sanitation and safety protocols.

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5/29/2020 Bottle Bill Now in Question as COVID-19 Halts Many Redemption Centers | who13.com

https://who13.com/news/bottle-bill-now-in-question-as-covid-19-halts-many-redemption-centers/ 4/15

However IGIA president, Michelle Hurd, said they would welcome a permanent end

to the requirement.

“We certainly hope that this has really shown what we’ve been talking about for

many years, which is the safety concern that we have with bringing these cans and

bottles back to the grocery stores across the state of Iowa. So hopefully, this is a

conversation we can have when [the legislative session] reconvenes next week,”

Hurd said.

The IGIA recently petitioned the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to be

excluded from the state’s Bottle Bill.

“We’ve talked about our concerns for many years about bringing these cans and

bottles back to grocery stores, the place where you want to buy your food. I think

that we’ve tried to work with others to provide a better solution for Iowans and

really are committed to be a part of that. I think you have again the COVID-19 issue

and you have the legislative issue here,” Hurd said.

Wednesday morning, Cleaner Iowa responded with their own petition to the Iowa

DNR saying removing redemption centers from grocery stores would “overhaul

Iowa’s Bottle Bill and fatally overwhelm the system.”

To Iowans holding on to their cans and bottles, Barry is asking them to not give up.

“To the folks that are holding all of all of their deposits, look around, make sure that

there’s not a store nearby that is redeeming, especially in central Iowa since we

know a lot of the Hy-Vee stores are redeeming. [If not], hold on to them. By putting

them into your single stream [recycling], you lose your nickel, that’s millions and

millions of dollars in Iowa and be reentered into the economy,” Barry said. “But

bottom line is, it’s important to hold your nickels and redeem them and it’s

important for the Governor to understand that’s important to the people, and she

will.”

Throwing your cans and bottles into a single stream, or fully commingled, recycling

isn’t the best option for the recycling industry either. Collins said her company has

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5/29/2020 Bottle Bill Now in Question as COVID-19 Halts Many Redemption Centers | who13.com

https://who13.com/news/bottle-bill-now-in-question-as-covid-19-halts-many-redemption-centers/ 5/15

found that they lose about 25 percent of the recyclables due to contamination or

during the sorting process.

To �nd a nearby redemption center click here.

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