Statewide Iowa — You may be plunking down an additional five cents when you purchase a beverage, if a bid by 41 members of the Iowa House to expand Iowa’s bottle deposit law passes.
Andy McKean, a Republican from Anamosa, is leading the bid to have the nickle deposit applied to bottled water, fruit juice, tea and sports drinks.
Under the state’s 40-year-old “Bottle Bill” consumers pay a five-cent deposit on each container of soft drinks, beer and wine they buy — and they can return the empties and get their deposits back. Grocers complain about having filthy empties in their stores. The bill McKean’s touting needs at least 10 more supporters before it could pass the House. The legislation would increase the handling fee for recyclers, to make it more profitable to operate a redemption center for bottles and cans.
Representative Chuck Isenhart, a Democrat from Dubuque, is hoping this approach goes farther than a stalled bid last year that would have repealed the ‘Bottle Bill’ rather than expand it.
It’s unclear what will happen to the “Bottle Bill” in the legislature this year — if anything. Several efforts over the past few decades to alter the bill have failed.
