September 11, 2007

New home for Denny’s Redemption Center
By Mark Wicks

When Denny Tynan purchased Walker’s Redemption Center on May 29, he helped give the struggling can and bottle return business in Charles City new life.

As of Sept. 4, he has also given the business a new home.

Now called Denny’s Redemption Center, the business has relocated from 706 N. Jackson St. to 501 M St., right along Highway 18 East on the edge of town, just up the road from Superior Lumber.

The new location offers more space inside and more parking adjacent to the building on the outside, compared to its old home. A larger customer service area also features three new self-service machines that customers can feed their cans and bottles into, in addition to the manual count tables as utilized in the past.

“The machines should really help speed up processing when we’re busy,” said Tynan.

Other improvements over the old facility include a private office, greater storage space and an open, airy atmosphere that provides better employee visibility and greater air circulation for a more comfortable environment — both for customers and employees.

“I have tried to make a more attractive setting, with the inside of the building being red, white and blue,” noted Tynan. “I also feel that the new location will be easier for people to find and to get in and out of.”

The redemption center has been struggling for some time because of what Tynan called a “flawed state system” when it comes to can and bottle returns.

“I’m trying to do a community service, because I want to keep these cans and bottles out of the ditches and out of the grocery stores,” explained Tynan of why he purchased the business earlier this year. “I’m doing this 99 percent for community service and 1 percent to rent my building.”

In an effort to make the business more viable — and in doing so keep it in operation — Tynan moved it from the old location in which he had to pay rent to a building that he owns. He also has solicited community support from a number of retail operations in town that sell bottled and canned beverages to help subsidize the operation and keep it going.

“The Legislature has been fighting with this (redemption problem) for years and not getting anything done, so I decided to try it from the bottom up,” he explained. “And I’m trying to fix it without spending one Legislative dollar.

“We have to ... because I won’t be able to keep this redemption center open otherwise. And without a state-approved redemption center, that will mean all of the stores that sell these cans and bottles will have to start taking them back again. That’s the law.”

The bottle bill was designed to self-fund the state’s refundable deposit program. Customers are charged 5 cents extra per refundable container at the time of purchase, then able to recoup that nickel per container when they redeem the empties. The beverage distributors then pay the store or redemption center that 5 cents per container, plus a 1-cent handling fee, for a total of 6 cents.

“By keeping the redemption centers open, Iowa is not only a cleaner state, it keeps billions of containers out of the landfills, road ditches and water ways,” stated the Bottle Bill Coalition on its Web site. “This goes a long way to helping the environment and our children who will have to clean up the mess if we don't do something now.”

One area that has drastically improved since he went public with the problem earlier this year, Tynan reported, is the problem of trash and waste matter mixed in with the cans and bottles being returned. Of particular concern were needles and syringes that would be found inside of cans or bottles — or the containers used to bring them in with — and the safety hazard that presented to employees.

“That has gotten a lot better, people are doing a much better job of keeping the garbage out of the mix,” Tynan said.

Cans and bottles being returned for redemption should be empty, clean and dry. The self-service vending machines, in particular, will not accept wet or partially full containers.

Denny’s Redemption Center is open to the public from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10-2 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed to the public on Mondays, which are reserved to process containers from the local bars and restaurants.

For more information, contact Denny Tynan at (641) 228-1613.