(Radio Iowa) – Iowa grocery stores could opt out of accepting empty containers covered by the state’s nickel deposit law under legislation that has cleared a Senate subcommittee. Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, says his bill is an attempt to tweak, but not end the state’s popular “Bottle Bill.”

Rozenboom predicts his bill would lead to more business for redemption centers, but Troy Willard, owner of the Can Shed in Cedar Rapids, says without an increase in the fee for handling empty cans and bottles, it’s not a profitable business model for rural parts of the state.

Jess Mazour, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, says the bill would make it less convenient for consumers to get their deposit fees back.

As the bill is currently written, a retailer may refuse to accept cans and bottles if there’s a redemption center within 20 miles of the store. Mary Tarnoff of Fairfield, legislative action chair for the Sierra Club of Southeast Iowa, says it’s not reasonable to expect someone to drive 20 miles to recycle.

Rozenboom says his attempt to modernize the Bottle Bill, like countless others, may be doomed if competing interest groups aren’t willing to compromise.

Beer and liquor distributors keep all the deposit fees that are not redeemed today and Rosenboom says it’s grown “into a very large sum of money.” His bill would have that money turned over the state.