2021-04-03_5:32pm

Dear Representative Fisher and Senator Edler,

I’m here to tell you that Iowa’s ancient 1970’s bottle law ain’t workin’ no more.

I picked up what you see in the attached photo (click on the blue map marker and the link inside the balloon), all in less than 1 mile, and only from one side of the road. I could not even count the number of water bottles, tea bottles, and tiny booze bottles I passed up since I was on my bike, and not walking this time around. Why did I pass them up? Because the basket on my bike is already full and I’m still a mile-and-a-half from home. I smashed all the cans just to make room for more. And my walking partners and I see this every day, everywhere we go in Iowa.

I don’t pick them up for the paltry $0.05 per container, my proceeds are dontated to the local archery club anyway. My friends and I do this because we are disgusted by all the trash along our streets and roadways.

If each container were worth a $0.25 refund, and if ALL capped beverage bottles and cans were included… well, the law might just work again. Just think of it as an adjustment for 50 years of inflation.

Trash Statistics:

Bags of trash collected: 2
Weight of trash collected, in pounds: 3
Number of $0.05 recyclables collected: 33