October 28, 2008
Oelwein redemption center lands state grant
OELWEIN – Oelwein Bottle & Can, Inc., has been awarded a $13,485 state grant to help keep Oelwein clean. The award was announced Saturday by Gov. Chet Culver and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Tom Reinert, owner of Oelwein Bottle & Can, Inc., said he received an email that he was one of the businesses to be awarded grant money, but had not been informed on the amount until meeting with the Daily Register on Monday.
“It’s definitely good news,” Reinert said. “I know they had more requests for money than there were funds available.” He explained the grant program was kind of an 11th hour effort by the state to assist Iowa centers.
“We were really hoping for an increase in the handling fee,” Reinert said referring to the push to add one-cent per can value for redemption centers. He said the grant program is at least an attempt on the part of the state to make redemption centers more financially sustainable.
“Except for occasional ruling changes, this is the first time the state has ever taken this kind of initiative,” he said.
Representative Andrew Wenthe of Hawkeye was one of the chief architects of the plan and the floor manager of the amendment to commit $1 million to help redemption centers across Iowa. The award to Oelwein Bottle & Can, Inc. was one of 95 statewide to receive a grant.
“Redemption centers have been squeezed for years and I’m pleased the state is helping provide support to keep our community clean,” said Wenthe. “Iowa’s bottle bill has been extremely successful at keeping our environment clean and is widely supported by Iowans. After approving the money just a few months ago, I’m pleased that state government worked quickly to provide much needed relief for our redemption centers.”
Reinert said he plans to use the award to add automation to his business. Currently, he employs two full-time and three part-time people. They count, sort, bag and stack the thousands of redeemable beverage cans and bottles brought in by area consumers.
He will be purchasing The CanDo, which is manufactured in Oregon. Reinert has seen one in action and says it will truly enhance his operation. Although he admits The CanDo is not quite as fast as his employees, the machine counts, sorts, compacts and generates a report by brand of the cans that are fed into it. He feels his reports will be more precise and compacting the cans will allow him to better utilize his can storage space.
“By taking a six-inch can down to one inch or less, the machine will alleviate storage problems for us,” Reinert said.
He opened for business at 230 Second Ave. S.E. in December 2004. Reinert said when the Iowa Legislature and DNR initiated the state bottle and can law many years ago, redemption centers were not initially considered. He said lawmakers must have thought consumers would just return their cans to the stores where they were purchased. Since redemption centers have started up, many stores are trying to discontinue handling bottle and can returns citing space limitations, time constraints and the sticky/dirty conditions that are just part of the business.
Reinert, who also farms, says it’s tough to create enough turnover at the redemption center for his business to be profitable. He said future plans for the center include increasing his retail beer sales.
According to the Beverage Market Data Analysis from the Container Recycling Institute, Iowa ranks first in its region for return rates per capita, with 86 percent of containers redeemed annually.
http://communitynewspapergroup.com/articles/2008/10/28/oelwein_daily_register/news/doc49073a13c752b179028558.txt
