IOWA - Iowa's Bottle Bill remains in place after a judge Wednesday dismissed a grocery industry challenge against a requirement for stores to accept bottle and can returns.
A bill in the state legislature to change the 40-year-old rule faces a deadline to move forward today [[ Thursday ]].
It would let grocery stores refuse to take bottle returns if a redemption center that residents could use instead is 20 miles away.
Currently, redemption centers must be inside a 10-minute drive in order for stores to shut down those operations.
The redemption centers are licensed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and are reimbursed one-cent for each bottle or can they process for recycling.
The centers have complained that they're financially strained by the penny reimbursement that hasn't changed since the Bottle bill was enacted. The bill facing the Thursday deadline would double that fee to two cents.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club favor the current system, and fear that forcing people to drive long distances to a redemption center instead of a local grocery store would discourage use of the redemption program.
Governor Kim Reynolds briefly suspended the program last year out of COVID-19 concerns, and some stores such as Fareway still don't accept the returns.
Several other bills to alter the Bottle Bill are being considered in the legislature, but face long odds to advance in the current session.