A bill significantly changing Iowa’s 40-plus-year-old bottle and can deposit law is on the move in the Iowa Legislature. And in its current form, lawmakers should toss it into a recycling bin.
The bill, Senate File 368, would allow beverage retailers to opt-out of collecting containers and redeeming consumers’ 5-cent deposits if the store is within 20 miles of a redemption center. That’s going to mean a lack of convenience and long drives for many Iowans.
On the plus side, the bill does increase the handling fee paid to redemption centers from 1 cent per container to 2 cents, but only temporarily. The fee would drop to 1.5 cents in 2023.