Welcome to the Iowa bottle bill coalition The Iowa Bottle Bill Coalition is a place where all redemption center owners can meet and discuss the bottle bill, find current information and learn what our options are when it comes to the 30 year old bottle bill. The Iowa bottle bill coalition was formed in 2006 as a way for Iowa redemption centers owners to talk to each other, find out information on upcoming legislative meetings, and generally share information. It is hoped that it will help to bring all recyclers, state legislators and grocery owners and distributors together to find a solution to saving the bottle bill. 

     The Iowa bottle bill or conainter legislation  was started as a way to help the environment and keep Iowa roadways, ditches and landfills clean. In the past 30 years it has done just that and more. It not only has kept our roadways etc cleaner it has gotten the containers out of the local stores whenever there is a redemption center near by. It has also created independent small business' and created jobs all over the state. We feel it is past time to update the bottle bill and give redemption centers a raise so we can continue to keep Iowa beautiful.

    The Iowa Bottle Bill Coalition is a group of redemption center owners who have been fighting to improve the 1 cent handling fee in the recycling business for the Iowa bottle bill. Most people know the redemption centers are in trouble all over the state mainly because the Iowa legislators have refused to vote on the issue of giving the redemption centers a raise. For the last 30 years Redemption centers have been working on the same wage of 1 cent per container, this has been going on since July 1st 1978 and as you know, it is almost impossible to pay todays bills on the  wages of 1978.    The bottle bill was designed to help keep reusable aluminum cans, plastic soda bottles and other reusable items like wine, beer and liquor bottles out of the landfills. So far it has had an estimated 85-90 percent return rate. There is a large majority of the public who also want to save the bottle bill. 4 out of 5 Iowans believe in the bottle bill and 80% of Iowans can't be wrong. 

     Curbside recycling has a proven 30-35% return rate compared to the bottle bill with its 85-90%. The bottle bill also affects not only the large cities it also keeps rural Iowa clean. You can't say the same about curbside recycling as most country homes don't even have trash pick up let alone recycling bins. By keeping the redemption centers open Iowa is not only a cleaner state, it keeps billions of containers out of the landfills, road ditches and water ways. This goes a long way to helping the enviroment and our children who will have to clean up the mess if we don't do something now.

     The bottle bill is not paid for by the state. It is totally self funded, you never pay for it unless you buy some kind of carbonated drink like soda, liquor or beer. When you buy a 12 pack or individual soda you pay an extra nickel to the store where you bought it, then you either return it to the store or a redemption center for a refund. The distributors company's like Pepsi, coca cola, Budweiser etc then pay the store or redemption center back the 5 cents plus 1 cent handling fee, for a total of 6 cents.