Can/Bottle Redemption
- Thread starter mkadl
- Start date
Did you know Walmart only gives you 24 hrs to redeem their redemption receipts? I almost lost my mind on the sweet old lady working the register the day I found that out. I try to buy very little from them now because of that stupid policy.
I tend to gather some garbage in the ditches around my car/where I get in when fishing but I have to limit myself because even like 200 feet down the road is easily a full garbage bag full of stuff.
It's unbelievable how many people apparently can't just have a little garbage bag in their car.
Heather Matson was my State rep in Ankeny and I talked to her about the redemption issue. She said she really tried to get this fixed but the issue in her mind is no one is willing to compromise. Grocer’s say they want X and it has to be all or nothing. Consumers want H and all or nothing. She told me that unless all interested parties make comprises it won’t go anywhere.
Also if anyone is in Des Moines area Saydel schools has a drop off site in Saylorville. Donations can be made there.
Iowa PBS did a special on this issue with a re-cycle company exec, a person who runs a center in Pella, a rep from the grocers assoc, and a beer distributor and half want the deposit to go up and one wants it either gone or the law enforced (if you sell you must redeem).
It is certainly complicated and I can see both sides of the issue.
Intent of the deposit law is in the right place, it's just the intended consequences turned it into a tax. It would make sense to say, if you sell you must redeem, but that doesn't protect the business from people hoarding cans/bottles that they didn't purchase at that store and redeeming them at said location.
I think the law was intended to be a zero sum game. I pay 5 cents a can/bottle and the seller gets that money. Then I bring my cans back to the seller and get my money back for the next purchase. Zero sum for the seller and the consumer. Problem is that now the seller has the cans/bottles and has to pay somebody to sort, clean, package, etc. them for pick up. In small town Iowa, sellers have just said they won't take cans back because of the handling cost and it makes sense. Sellers gambled on the expectation that only a fraction of cans they sell will come back to them. What about Pop machines? Who gets the deposit money for those and who has to pay the consumer when they redeem them? What about a guy who stores cans for 3 months instead of taking them in piecemeal because it wasn't worth the time for 60 cents? Casey's with 2 employees at most working at the time can't handle that.
Just get rid of the tax and it all goes away.
Hy-vee quit taking them in our town. Cleanliness? Ok, get rid of the freaking urgent care clinic with all of the sick people coughing up a lung in the front of the store.
This has nothing to do with pop, I don't drink pop. I do however drink beer and purchase bottles of liquor. Finally I'm more of a Twix, Whatchamacallit, Kit Kat guy.
Not much but the grocer, or whoever takes the cans, gets 6 cents for the cans when they hand them back to the distributor. The biggest push has been to have the grocer give back 4 cents per can and get 6 cents. So it would double the payback and each side takes a small hit in the scheme.
It's not up to the Legislator to force them to comply. They make the laws, they don't enforce them. Really, it's something that Tom Miller should be enforcing.
It is the DNR's job to check to see who is not taking cans/bottles back and they claim they don't have the people to check all the places that sell them to see if they are following the law. If you don't take them and get caught it is a small fine so many are just saying "fine me" and refusing to take the cans/bottles. As someone who knows about the machines,facilities, etc. of can redemption (designed/built many units) the process is a dirty one and the whole process needs to either go recycle bins or raise the fees so it is profitable for people to do the work.
Depends on the type of battery. Home Depot has a drop box for old tool batteries and such. Otherwise the hazardous waste facility should take it.
Everyone should be doing their best to recycle batteries. I know they don't necessarily make it easy. As electric vehicles take up more and more of the market share lithium supplies and lithium mining is going to become much more of a problem. Virtually all lithium mines are ecological disasters. We need to recapture what we already have in the system.
