DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa stores can now accept can and bottle returns and issue redemption money.
A moratorium on the practice imposed by Governor Kim Reynolds over COVID-19 concerns expired Sunday.
Stores selling liquor, beer, wine and carbonated beverages that require a deposit on cans and bottles can again accept returns once again.
The Beverage Containers Control Law, which is also known as the “Bottle Bill,” was passed in 1978 as a litter control measure.
In a release before Reynolds' placed COVID-19 restrictions in March, the Iowa Recycling Association said 71 percent of beverage containers are redeemed annually in Iowa
The association claims the state's redemption rate is more than twice as high as states without a Bottle Bill (29 percent).
Legislation to repeal the bottle bill after a three-year phase out failed to advance in the state legislature this year. The measure called for the money from un-redeemed containers to be shifted from distributors to the State Treasury.