Iowa grocers want to quit redeeming empty cans and bottles

[cyberswede]

The Rs are still trying to get rid of the bottle bill. Fuckers.

Iowa grocers want to quit redeeming empty cans and bottles
William Petroski, [e-mail] Published 5:43 p.m. CT Dec. 5, 2017

If Iowa's grocery stores and the non-alcoholic beverage industry have their way, the state's 5-cent bottle deposit law will be scrapped by the Iowa Legislature and replaced with an expanded statewide recycling program.

[snip]

Iowa currently recovers 86 percent of its beverage containers, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The law covers all carbonated and alcoholic beverages, and about 1.65 billion containers are redeemed annually in Iowa. The combination of the beverage container law and existing curbside recycling makes Iowa one of the top recycling states in the nation.

If the Legislature repeals the deposit law, the percentage of beverage containers recycled would be expected to drop to the national average of 29 percent, opponents say.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/05/iowa-grocers-want-quit-redeeming-empty-cans-and-bottles/922574001/

[Wellstone ruled]

1. All about dollars and storage space.

[cyberswede]

2. It's always about the dollars over the environment. :( nt

[SoCalNative]

3. They could institute a recycling program

whereby they separate out recyclables collected from the trash. Many places do that.

[cyberswede]

9. Recycling is widely used already...

but the added incentive of recovering your nickel for every container you return does increase participation.

We had $17.00 in returned beer bottles last week...I won’t tell you how long we were storing them before we turned them in.

[egold2604]

4. Just toss the bottles on Republican Congresspersons lawns

[rurallib]

5. Only the Iowa grocers want to do away with this

it is a very popular program among citizens.

Not that going against what Iowans wanted would stop Republicans. Witness what happened last year.

Once it is gone, I doubt it would ever be reinstated.

[cyberswede]

7. agree

[Cairycat]

6. I was finishing my first semester of college when the bottle bill passed

Bottles and cans all over campus (UNI) and when I went home the roadsides with littered with the same. But after the bill passed, the difference was like night and day.

I say let the grocers give up their redemption duties ... but only if they give up the profits from the beverages! You sell it, you help take care of the mess it creates!

[cyberswede]

8. Exactly...a recycling program in its place wont provide enough incentive...

and we’ll see cans & bottles all over the roadside again.