A message from Dewayne Johnson of Iowa Recycling Assoc.

The 2005 Iowa Legislative Session started this week
and one of the key issues lawmakers will be dealing
with is the "bottle bill."

IT IS ESSENTIAL that everyone take a moment and write
a short letter to each of the members of the House
Environmental Protection and Senate Natural Resources
Committee.  At this time of the legislative session an
old fashioned letter is the best means of
communication, later in the session the use of e-mail
will be fine.  And yes it is a lot of people to write
to, but we have to show each lawmaker on these key
committees that their vote to support us is essential.

Tell them:

*  The only way to keep Iowa's roadsides clean and
continue the state's impressive rate of recycling
bottles and cans is to require those who wish to sell
beverages, covered by the bottle bill, to also redeem
them.

*  Increase the handling fee paid to redemption
centers to at least 2-cents per can or bottle from the
current 1-cent rate.  The handling fee has not been
increased since the original bottle bill was passed in
1978.

*  It is essential that the Department of Natural
Resources be given the power to enforce bottle bill
rules and regulations in the same way they enforce
rules governing waste tires and other recycling
issues.

House Environmental Protection Committee members to
contact:
Rep. Sandi Greiner
Rep. Richard Anderson
Rep. Don Shoultz
Rep. Betty De Bouf
Rep. Bill Dix
Rep. Jack Drake
Rep. Ed Fallon
Rep. Mary Gaskill
Rep. Lisa Heddens
Rep. Lance Horbach
Rep. Dan Huseman
Rep. Bob Kressig
Rep. Mark Kuhn
Rep. Jim Kurtenbach
Rep. Gene Maddox
Rep. Steve Olson
Rep. Donovan Olson
Rep. Dawn Pettengill
Rep. J.K. (Jim) Van Fossen
Rep. Ralph Watts
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell

Senate Natural Resources Committee Members:
Sen. Hubert Houser
Sen. Dennis Black
Sen. Joe Bolkcom
Sen. Dick Dearden
Sen. Thurman Gaskill
Sen. Tom Hancock
Sen. David Johnson
Sen. Steve Kettering
Sen. Mary Lundby
Sen. David Miller
Sen. John Putney
Sen. Brian Schoenjahn
Sen. Joe Seng
Sen. Frank Wood

Address for all lawmakers:
The Honorable (lawmakers name)
Iowa State Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319

Please be sure to mail your letters so they arrive no
later than next Thursday (January 20th, 2005)
=====
Dewayne Johnson, Executive Director
Iowa Recycling Association
2742 SE Market Street
Des Moines, IA  50317

515.265.1596 (phone)
515.265.6690 (fax)

www.iowarecycles.org

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