Iowa's bottle return rates have tanked
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
A new study shows more than half of Iowa's beverage containers are going to landfills.
Why it matters: The results question the effectiveness of the state's frequently debated 46-year-old bottle bill that uses deposits to incentivize people to recycle many types of beverage containers.
- Some lawmakers have threatened to repeal the law if the state recycling program struggles.
Driving the news: The Iowa Department of Natural Resources assesses what materials have been going to state landfills every five years.
- The report by the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) used 2022 data and found that just 49% of beverage containers were recovered through the state's deposit law or siphoned to recycling programs.
Stunning stat: That means more than half, or around 39,300 tons of recyclable beverage containers, were sent to Iowa landfills in 2022, CRI estimates.
- The unclaimed deposit money goes to beverage distributors.
Threat level: Iowa's recycling recovery rates have been plummeting for years.
- Nearly 90% were recovered in 2007, dropping almost 20 percentage points by the 2017 study.
Catch up quick: Iowa's bottle bill was championed by Republican Gov. Robert Ray and then-state Rep. Terry Branstad to reduce roadway litter. The Iowa Recycling Association estimates more than 48 billion containers have been recycled as a result.
- Advocates have lobbied to expand the program to more types of containers and to increase the 5-cent deposit on most beer and soda containers.
Yes, but: Critics, including some grocers, have pushed for changes, saying redemption in food stores is unsanitary and arguing that curbside recycling options have expanded since the 1970s.
State of play: Lawmakers approved new bottle bill rules beginning in 2023 that allow grocery stores to retire their collection programs if redemption centers are within a 10- to 15-mile radius.
- Nearly 30 counties are now "redemption deserts," where beverage cans or bottles cannot be returned for their 5-cent-per-container deposits, Cleaner Iowa, a coalition of bottle bill advocacy groups, concluded in April.
What we're watching: State Rep. Brian Lohse (R-Bondurant), who was among the legislators who authored the recent changes, has said the next step could be an end to the law.
- "We tried to fix it. And if it's not going to work, then that may be something we have to take a really hard look at," he told the Cedar Rapids Gazette in April.
- Lohse tells Axios he is interested in monitoring the data but knows of no concerted effort to repeal the law.
The big picture: Iowa is one of 10 states with beverage container deposit-return laws and its deposit is among the lowest.
- States including Oregon and Michigan, with 10-cent deposits, tend to have higher return rates, bottle bill advocates say.
Reality check: Iowa's recovery is still double that of non-bottle bill states, said RG Schwarm, executive director of Cleaner Iowa, tells Axios.