Opinion

Bottle bill must be protected

Once again, Iowa's Bottle Bill and Redemption centers are being attacked. Here is a letter from the Iowa Grocer Association to a redemption center. Last year, a couple of redemption centers were asking the customer to donate one cent of the bottle deposit back to the redemption center to help them stay open. What happened were the customers complained, saying they paid the full deposit and wanted it all back. So the DNR sent letters to all redemption centers in the state saying they would be fined $500 or could spend 30 days in jail if found guilty of breaking the law. The grocers make it sound like they just want the cans out of their stores, when in reality they really want the bottle bill gone.

Redemption centers have always said that the handling fee increase needs to come from the distributors. They are the ones making, selling and profiting from not only the items sold but the unclaimed deposits which amount to millions of dollars, and they also keep aluminum, amounting to millions more.

Redemption centers have been told to suck it up for the past 30 years. Their suggestion would mean the end of the bottle bill.

Rose Shepard, Montezuma

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