December 28, 2009
Redeeming qualities
| Southern Iowa Redemption co-owner Hidie Lemon sorts recyclable bottles at the redemption center. Lemon said the business, which is co-owned by Becky Hall, receives approximately 25,000 cans and bottles returned for the 5-cent deposit fee each week. Southern Iowa Redemption is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. (TYLER ELLYSON) |
For the past 30 years, Iowans have paid an extra nickel on any carbonated-beverage, liquor or wine container purchased.
Although this may be common knowledge, the true questions are where does it go and how do customers get it back?
Iowa’s “Bottle Bill” requiring a 5-cent deposit was instituted in 1979 as a way to limit littering, and the process is simple.
Distributors charge each dealer, or retailer, a 5-cent deposit on every container delivered to the store. This deposit fee is then passed to the customer during purchase.
Customers can then return the container to each respective dealer or a redemption center in exchange for their deposit fee. Distributors then pick up the empty containers and pay the dealer or redemption center six cents per container — an extra penny is included as a handling fee.
When a customer does not return the container, the distributor retains the unredeemed 5-cent deposit.
Iowa law requires all dealers, including convenience stores, to accept up to 120 empty beverage containers per person per 24-hour period of the same kind, size and brand sold by the dealer, unless the dealer has been exempted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (I DNR).
Locally
In Creston, this means nearly every store must, under state law, accept containers returned for deposit.
Fareway is the only retailer with an agreement that has been approved for exemption by the IDNR, according to IDNR program planner Bill Blum.
“Essentially, this is an agreement between the retailer and redemption center,” said Blum. “There’s only a couple criteria they have to follow for that to be approved.”
This criteria includes requiring the redemption center to be open at least 20 hours per week with four of these hours at night or on the weekend, and the dealer and center must be in close proximity.
Under this agreement, Southern Iowa Redemption is designated as the recycling center for all bottles and cans purchased at Fareway. Meaning customers must take their recyclables to the redemption center to get a return on the deposit.
“We’ve done that for about four years now,” said Teresa Williamson, Fareway produce manager. “It’s a lot nicer because you wouldn’t believe what you’d find in those can bags when you start sorting.”
Williamson added that having employees sort through the cans and bottles, which the store previously did, posed a sanitation problem in addition to the time it took employees to complete the task.
Other retailers
According to Store Manager Amy Hook, Wal-Mart Supercenter receives between 300,000 and 400,000 recyclable cans and bottles each year.
The store accepts containers returned for deposit through a machine customers insert the containers into. A ticket is then printed that can be redeemed for cash.
Wal-Mart’s containers are then picked up by Southern Iowa Redemption before heading back to the distributor. Other retailers like the Casey’s General Store and Kum and Go locations, American Legion, Pine Valley and local bars also have their containers picked up by the redemption center.
Co-owner Hidie Lemon said Southern Iowa Redemption receives about 25,000 cans and bottles each day.
The redemption center is also required to accept up to 500 containers from individuals each day. According to Lemon, more than 800 stop there to get a return on their deposit every two weeks.
“We do a lot of business here,” she said. “In the summertime we think we live here. It’s like three times busier during the summer.”
Lemon said many customers save their cans or bottles all year and redeem them for money to be used on a vacation.
Hy-Vee
One Creston business that does recycling a bit differently, and according to Blum perhaps illegally, is Hy-Vee.
While the store does accept any can or bottle sold there in exchange for a deposit, there is an 80 container per customer limit each day. Because the store does not have an agreement with a local redemption center allowing the IDNR to give an exemption, it’s technically in violation of state law.
“That kind of a violation is a simple misdemeanor and it would take a complaint from a customer to the police or sheriff to enforce,” said Blum. “One of the problems is the only enforcement is at the local level. My experience is local law enforcement is reluctant to issue those types of citations. A lot of times a call from local law enforcement will get them to correct that behavior.”
Blum said Hy-Vee can either lift the restriction or get an agreement with a redemption center approved by IDNR to be in compliance.
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Iowa's "Bottle Bill" requiring a 5-cent deposit when purchasing carbonated-beverage, liquor and wine containers has seen success.
"As it has developed over time, it has really become a means by which landfills and citizens can keep tens of thousands of tons of items out of landfills and ditches," said Bill Blum, Iowa Department of Natural Resources program planner.
According to the Container Recycling Institute, Iowans recycled 626 containers per person in 2008. No neighboring state averaged more than 200 containers per person, Blum said.
The institute reports 90,000 tons of cans and bottles are recycled in the state each year at a redemption rate of about 90 percent.
"We estimate close to 1.8 billion containers are recycled (annually)," said Blum.
It's estimated energy savings from the "Bottle Bill" could heat more than 40,000 average Iowa households each year.
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