Hull, Iowa — If you’ve been an Iowan for just about any length of time, you know that pop and beer cans are worth five cents. You pay an extra five cents (a deposit) per bottle or can when you buy them, and you get that money back when you redeem them. Senator Randy Feenstra from Hull says that might be changing.
He says the law certainly did its job as it was first proposed.
He says they’re trying to decide if the five-cent can has outlived its usefulness, compared to other options that are out there.
He says the curbside recycling that he’s talking about wouldn’t change the curbside recycling most northwest Iowa communities have in place. But in other areas of the state, there is no curbside recycling, and this bill would address that. He says when you pay the five-cent deposit now, one penny goes to an administrative fee, and they’re looking at keeping that in place to pay for the new program. Another penny currently goes to the can redemption centers.
We asked Senator Feenstra how the new bill would affect can redemption centers because that penny per can is how they make their money.
Feenstra says he’s not sure whether they can come up with a plan and pass it this year or next year, but he says that there are so many more items that are not refundable that he says they have to address the issue.
