Here's what happens to Iowa's unreturned can deposits

Droppett is a pilot program that allows users to place a QR sticker on bags of cans to be counted, with deposits automatically added to their bank accounts.

• There's a dropoff site in DSM that we wrote about last month that prompted an Ask Axios question from reader Stuart T.

Question: Where do all the deposits of cans that aren't redeemed go?

Answer: Beverage distributors, like Doll Distributing, keep the unredeemed five-cent deposits, Tammie Krausmann, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources tells Axios.

• The state does not track how many go unreturned. And it's considered to be proprietary information among each private distributor.

Yes, but: DNR waste studies give a glimpse into how many of Iowa's redeemable cans or bottles end up in landfills.

• It amounts to millions of dollars each year, according to a review of the data by the Container Recycling Institute and published last year by the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Of note: Distributors pay an extra 1-cent handling fee to retailers and redemption centers for each container.

• That increases to three cents in January.