However, the possible implementation of Governor Chet Culver's new expansion to the 'Bottle Bill' has been met with some strong opposition.

Shenandoah Fareway store manager Tim Augustine is among those feeling the plan doesn't make sense.

"Why is Gov. Culver against retailers in the county and other boarder counties," asked Augustine. "A year ago he pressured the Legislature into passing the $1.00 a pack cigarette tax...Now within the next week to 10 days, Gov. Culver is out to get us again. He is pressuring the Legislature to get his Bottle Bill expansion."

Shenandoah Hy-Vee Store Director Dan Weiler shares Augustine's concerns.

"All in all it's not a very good bill as far as I'm concerned," said Weiler. "It just adds a lot more to the manufacturers, to the retailers and I think it's something that isn't necessary."

Weiler believes the end product of the bill expansion would just be a rise in cost for the consumer.

"There will be cost involved for the manufacturer which will be added to the retailer, which will be added to the consumer."

The Culver administration is pushing lawmakers to add juice, water, sports drink and tea bottles and cans to the state's nickel-per-container redemption program.

Lt. Gov. Patty Judge said doing so would prompt Iowans to recycle an additional 200 million containers each year, on top of the 1.6 billion which are redeemed annually.

However, Augustine, among others, feels this would put the Iowa counties that border other states at a big disadvantage.

"Once again, as with pop and beer, now people on boarder counties to Missouri and Nebraska will go there to purchase these items, and our county and town will once again pay the price for it in lost income," said Augustine.

Jerry Fleagle, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association (IGIA), echoes Augustine's concerns.

Fleagle said increasing the handling fee would be similar to the $1.00 boost in the tax on cigarettes, which was passed in the state of Iowa earlier last year. This increase in the overall price of tobacco has caused consumers who live near state borders to purchase their tobacco products in neighboring states, where the products are cheaper, said Fleagle.

"One retailer in Bloomfield (near the Missouri border) has completely stopped selling cigarettes," said Fleagle. "They are just so uncompetitively priced (compared to outside the state)."

Augustine and Fleagle fear the same might happen with products containing the five-cent redemption fee.

Of the 11 states that require bottle deposits, none border Iowa. The only other Midwest state to require a deposit is Michigan, which has a 10-cent per can deposit.

The Iowa DNR, which is responsible for overseeing the program, said Iowans recycle beverage containers at a rate of 86 percent, amounting to 1.65 billion cans annually.

DNR figures show that in 2006, the energy saved from Iowa's Bottle Bill could heat 26,486 average households. For every ton of aluminum cans recycled, 13 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide will not enter the air. In 2006, 56,000 tons were recycled.

Sarah Bixby, a spokeswoman for 150 Iowa landfills, says the change would keep - in a single year - about 2,000 tons of plastic out of one of those landfill.

"Doing so reduces our demand for petroleum, it reduces our greenhouse gas emissions coming from the landfills, it better protects our water," said Bixby. "I am in the business of protecting the environment."

Augustine believes the time and effort being used to pass the Bottle Bill expansion could be better served developing a comprehensive curbside recycling program.

"Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have these programs," said Augustine. "Lets see how they are doing it and learn and implement, and get away from more tax on products - the increased fuel charge has already raised seven to nine percent over last year."

However, according to the Iowa Bottle Bill Coalition, curbside recycling is not nearly as effect.

"Curbside recycling has a proven 30-35 percent return rate compared to the bottle bill with its 85-90 percent. The bottle bill also affects not only the large cities, it also keeps rural Iowa clean.

"You can't say the same about curbside recycling as most country homes don't even have trash pick up let alone recycling bins. 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 waterways. 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," according to their website.

Weiler also believes there are other ways to clean up the environment without adding extra costs to consumer products.

"It (the Bottle Bill) was originally put in place to combat litter," said Weiler. "There's recycling for plastics without the deposit, and they've done a good job on the (Adopt-A-Highway program) so I just don't think it's necessary."

Another point of contention for Augustine with the expansion is having a place to put it all inside the store.

The bill would require the store that sells the products on the list to have a place for customers to redeem them, or they must have a redemption center within one mile of a store in order for the grocery to be exempt from accepting recyclables.

Before dealers, such as grocery stores and convenience stores, can stop accepting cans and bottles, they are required by Iowa law to have a redemption center approved by the DNR. The one for Shenandoah is the Shenandoah Redemption Center, operated by John Stibbs.

Stibbs believes including more products in the five-cent tax would be a good idea.

"I'm all for an expansion, especially putting deposits on water bottles and Gatorade, the ones that sit out in the dirt and no one will pick them up," said Stibbs. "It would be more value, but making just a penny a unit it's not going to be as much as people think. But it would definitely be helpful for the environment."

Augustine fears that the added trouble of trying to keep so many products separate might be more than some small redemption centers can handle, which would in turn force the stores into doing it themselves.

"At this point in time there are about five to 10 required sorts of deposit items," said Augustine. "This will, or could, increase to as many as 175 depending on the area of the state you live in.

"Just think about 175 different sort bins inside your favorite grocery store."

Stibbs admits the process would be difficult to handle.

"We have to separate every different size to every different company...so it would be quite involved," he said.

According to Weiler this would lead to an increase in cost that would eventually show up in the end price of the product.

"We pay a recycling company, so this would be added cost that once again we'd have to pass onto the consumers.

Augustine said if the redemption centers were unable to handle the increased load, it would lead to problems of the distributors coming back to pick the recyclables up, along with sanitation issues from unclean containers being returned.

According to the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals, there has never been a health violation in a grocery store due to bottle and can returns.

Augustine contends that in the end it will be the residents of boarder counties who will pay if the Bottle Bill is expanded, and thus encourages everyone to contact their local legislatures and voice their concerns.

"This is not a fix, it saves nothing, and in the end cost all of use more. More trips to Missouri to get deposit-free items, or more trips to the store or redemption center to get a nickel or dime back that you could have put at the curb for free, or even get compensated for.

"Nothing good can come with expansion of the Bottle Bill. It's bad for our town, our county, and our state.

"We do need to recycle and cut back on items going to landfills, but taking a 25-year old problem child and giving it an evil twin is not how to get it done."