[UPDATED**] (Radio Iowa) – Backers of Iowa’s 47-year-old “Bottle Bill” are urging Iowans to contact lawmakers about a lack of access to sites where they can redeem their nickel deposits on bottles and cans. R-G Schwarm is executive director of Cleaner Iowa, a group that paid to survey Iowans about the Bottle Bill. “Iowans continue to support the Bottle Bill,” Schwarm said, “but the frustration is clearly recognized in the results.”

The Bottle Bill was changed in 2022, removing the requirement that retailers who sell beverages and collect the nickel deposits must pay consumers who return the empties. “64.5% of voters believe it is more difficult to redeem their containers with just 3% saying easier and approximately 25% saying about the same,” Schwarm said. According to Schwarm, there’s been an 80 percent reduction in the number of redemption sites in the state since the law took effect.

There’s no pending legislation to change the redemption system, but there a bill that would have expanded the nickel deposit fee to cans containing non-carbonated beverages, like energy drinks, failed to clear a House committee Tuesday, and is dead for the year.**