Lt. Gov. Steps up Pressure on Bottle Deposit Law

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Lt. Gov. Steps up Pressure on Bottle Deposit Law

By Becky Ogann

DES MOINES (AP) - Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge is stepping up the pressure on lawmakers to expand the state's bottle deposit law.

She was joined at a Statehouse news conference Tuesday by landfill and redemption center officials who say expanding the law makes sense -- both for the economy and the environment.

Governor Culver initially asked lawmakers to double the current 5-cent deposit with some of the money being used for a state environmental program. He has since shifted gears on using some revenue for a state environmental program.

Judge says whatever deposit is paid, consumers will get it all back when they redeem the containers.

Lawmakers are working on a bill that would expand the types of containers covered by the law, but they hold little hope of upping the deposit.

Tuesday, Mar 18 at 7:19 PM Steve wrote ...

Why would raising the bottle deposit make sense for the economy?? What do we want to be like Michigan? There economy's doin pretty good. How about are law makers start coming up with ideas that would really help our states economy instead of bickering over the can deposit.

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Tuesday, Mar 18 at 7:22 PM Curbside Recycling wrote ...

Why SHOULD we raise the deposit amount? When this was implemented in the 70s & 80s, littering was a problem. Now it's rare for people to litter. Recycling and other "green" behavior is now the norm. Most people have curbside recycling and throw much less material in the garbage. We should simply repeal the deposit law and put our bottles and cans in the recycling bins instead of maintaining this extra, unnecessary, cumbersome bureaucracy.

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Tuesday, Mar 18 at 8:49 PM CJ wrote ...

I believe that the bottle bill should be expanded. Just go to a state that doesn't have a bottle return policy and you'll find the roadsides covered with pop cans and other types of bottles. Even in Iowa you find lots of nonrefundable bottles discarded more often than not on the side of a road then in a recycling bin. Lawmakers should expand the bill to include water bottles and drink bottles to help curb littering because littering is still a big problem in this state!

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Tuesday, Mar 18 at 8:54 PM Denny wrote ...

Sounds like someone has a vested interest in making this law pass @ $.10. "It's what Iowans want..." they say. The consensus that I'm receiving is quite the contrary. It is hard enough for us to get by these days and now our Gov and Lt. Gov are trying to squeeze yet another nickel claiming it is what we want. WE DO NOT WANT OUR DEPOSIT'S INCREASED. Have a nice day.

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Tuesday, Mar 18 at 9:04 PM RM wrote ...

Curbside Recycling... I couldn't have said it any better myself. Most towns have recycle programs. Seems to me that it would be better to recycle these cans and bottles this way rather than leave them sit around for long periods of time just waiting for some disgusting insect to come along and make it there home. I used to work in a grocery store in the early 90's and had to deal with people bringing their cans in and trust me, it was truly gross. This deposit program is simply a nuisance.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 7:03 AM Just Wondering wrote ...

Before the Lt. Governor makes any comments she should contact the everyday citizens on what they would like. Most people and the grocery stores would like to see the bottle deposit bill end. Lets recyle all the bottles. Myself I wash out my cans so I can store them in my home. Not everyone has the desire to do so. Lets end this debate and go for recyling all the cans. We pay for the recyling lets use it.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 8:44 AM Can Man wrote ...

I'm not really in favor of raising the deposit, but the reason is that 5 cents isn't enough incentive to return a can. Most people are well off enough to pay a 5c dep. and throw away the can. Also there are a lot of apartments that don't have recycle bins and just have dumpsters. Everything in a dumpster goes to the landfill, correct? When the can law went into effect, there was no bottled water. (evil, evil bottled water) There are more reasons to keep or expand the deposit law then to not

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 8:51 AM Comments wrote ...

Before mandating that a greater volume of bottles and cans need to go back to the retailer, let's mandate that the retailer and the distributor, who makes the lions share of the profit from these products, come up with a more reasonable way of returning empties than standing in a sludge of pop and beer waste pushing one can at a time through a machine that sometimes works. I've stopped buying canned pop, and I can certainly do the same with bottled water. It's not worth the gas taking them bac

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 8:55 AM Anonymous wrote ...

We moved here from Wisconsin 4 years ago. We find the can deposit one of the dumbest things ever. Returning them is a joke. I think making people at the stores touch these cans/bottles everyday is completely unhealthy. We put our's back in the cases, but the ones that throw them in a huge bag and take them out by hand in the store, is gross. The deposit shows just how backwards Iowa is. 10 cents is a joke. We'll get our soda in Wisconsin since we go back a lot. Then return them and make money.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 9:11 AM klb wrote ...

I'm a recycler too and most of the folks responding are too, but there are still waaaaay too many lazy people who only get those bottles back to the store (instead of the curb or by the roadside) because they have a financial interest in getting their deposit back. Keep the deposit. I remember the days before the deposit and Iowa roadsides are so much cleaner than before.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 9:52 AM Anonymous wrote ...

I don't think they should raise the can deposit. I have to say I don't let the bottles and cans sit at my house (they go in the recycle bin and if those guys want the refund, I say go for it. Otherwise, my kids take them back. I don't want to touch those messy cans and bottles or take them to some can redeption place where it is sticky and just gross. Just add more recycle bins all over. come on use thier heads.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 9:57 AM Yes for the Bottle Bill Expansion wrote ...

Curbside recycling, I don't know where you live but here in Johnson County there is still plenty of litter. Few people are ever fined for littering and peace officers don't have time to chase litter bugs with their other duties. Go out to any mall or roadside and you will see the litter. If everyone would recycle that would be great, but they don't and Iowan's need this law and if people don't like Iowa they can move back to Wisconsin. We don't force anyone to live here, but I love it. IOWA!

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 10:27 AM Intrested wrote ...

I don’t take my SODA cans back; I put them in my curbside bin. I have always wondered how the city handles that. Do they get the 5 cents since I have forfeited it, or is it more profitable for them to sell it by the weight? I wonder how bottling companies view this do you think their lobbyists are fighting this? You would assume that if the deposit goes up people will really have to analyze their costs both in money and time and with the economy the way it is sales may go down.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 12:04 PM Costs wrote ...

You'll never recover your cost of deposit by selling your soda cans by weight. Aluminum is not that expensive.

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Wednesday, Mar 19 at 5:45 PM The Can Man wrote ...

Revising the deposit law to inlude all bevarge containers will help clean the water & sport drink bottles out of the ditches. It will help the economy if Redemption Centers get a raise. We've been operating on the same .01/can since '79. Could you live off what you made back in '79? That's where the deposit law revision would help the economy.

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Thursday, Mar 20 at 10:30 AM Clean ditches wrote ...

Raise the deposit to a dime I say.., I think it is great to see people walking the ditches picking up what otherwise would be left to slowly rot away. Jobs were created at our local Hy Vee just for can and bottle redemption. Jobs that in many cases help keep unskilled labor employed and off of government entitlement.

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Thursday, Mar 20 at 3:42 PM joed wrote ...

Well let's first start with all the water bottles that don't have a refund at all on them........

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Sunday, Mar 23 at 12:21 PM concerned wrote ...

Even though I think the bottle bill is ok , it needs to concider the establishments that handle the bottles and their rembersment. Also more important than this bill is the seatbelt bill that is in danger of not passing.

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