February 10, 2011
Time to scrap Iowa’s bottle bill? Some at Capitol say yes
Some lawmakers want to scrap Iowa’s 5-cent bottle redemption program under a proposal that is gaining momentum at the Capitol.
The overall prospects to ending the popular redemption policy still appear limited but both parties are rolling the issue forward.
Brett Fife sorts cans at B & L's Too, a bottle and can redemption center in Fort Dodge in this 2005 Register file photo.
“Personally I think it’s a mess at grocery stores…. I’d like to see the grocery stores do what they do best and that’s sell healthy, wholesome safe food,” said Rep. Ross Paustian, R-Walcott, a member of the House Environmental Protection Committee.
Environmental advocates and landfill operators strongly warned lawmakers today that such action would bring about dire consequences. Those include hundreds of lost jobs due to redemption center closures and a spike in costs of trash removal because landfills would be unable to meet reduction goals and would face higher tonnage fees by the state.
House Study Bill 74 as currently written not only would end bottle deposits but additionally set higher landfill volume reduction goals and increase highway littering fines from $70 to $150.
Setting higher landfill volume reduction goals while simultaneously ending the bottle bill is contradictory and would set the system up for failure, lawmakers were told.
“By repealing the bottle bill and going with something as proposed here you’re gutting what you’ve accomplished in the last 20 years on our current recycling programs,” said Sara Bixby, director of the South Central Iowa Solid Waste Agency. “This is not the right place to start.”
Eleven states including Iowa have bottle redemptions. Beverage containers account for 40 to 60 percent of litter and states with such laws have reduced not only beverage litter but other types as well, according to information from the Container Recycling Institute. The group notes that curbside recycling is available to only about 50 percent of the population, making that a far less reasonable option.
The bill is expected to be further considered in both House subcommittee and committee meetings next week. Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said today that it’s an issue that his party would also like to review.
“I think people are engaged in a very serious education campaign about the next generation of recycling efforts in this state and what makes the most sense in terms of keeping things out of landfills,” Gronstal said. “I think it’s a good discussion to be had. Whether they have the right bill remains to be seen.”
The idea to scrap Iowa’s bottle redemption program has been advocated by Iowa grocers for years. Such proposals often take multiple attempts and years of discussion before ultimately working through the legislative process.
House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said he personally supports curbside recycling as an option to the bottle bill. However, he also expressed doubts that the idea to eliminate the bottle bill would ultimately succeed in this year’s legislative session.
Gov. Terry Branstad was one of the main advocates of the 5-cent proposal while he was in the Legislature more than 30 years ago. Republicans noted that technology and Iowa’s needs have changed, which is why both parties agree that a review of the issue is necessary.
“I’m not under any illusion that that’s a bill that lands on the governor’s desk this year but I think it’s a discussion that needs to take place,” Paulsen said. “When the bottle bill was put in place in 1978 – and it clearly has served the state extremely well – but nobody contemplated curbside recycling at that point in time.”
Lobbyists Scott Sundstrom for the Iowa Grocery Industry Association and Bill Wimmer for the Iowa Beverage Association told lawmakers this morning that their groups support the concept but also advocate that lawmakers find an alternative.
“It was a trailblazing policy in the 1970s but we’re in the twenty-teens now,” Sundstrom said. “It’s time to look to a different kind of system.”
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/02/10/time-to-scrap-iowas-bottle-bill-capitol-cronies-say-yes/
