Posted by Jane Clark

Iowa DNR News
Land Quality and Waste Management Assistance Division

For immediate release: December 4, 2001

For more information, contact: Bob Castelline, (515) 281-0879

DNR URGES SHOPPERS TO CONSIDER BOTTLE BILL FACTS

DES MOINES - With shoppers in Iowa's grocery stores being met with a
petition that advocates repealing the state's bottle deposit law, the
Department of Natural Resources is urging Iowans to consider all the facts
before signing anything.

 The 22-year-old law, commonly called the "bottle bill," has been under
continual fire from the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, which represents
about 1,000 Iowa stores. The association claims the redemption of beverage
containers poses a health risk to consumers and has proposed replacing the
bottle bill with a "comprehensive recycling program."

 Jeff Geerts, a DNR program planner, said the claims are unsubstantiated and
that shoppers should look beyond what they're being told by grocers.

  "People are being scared into believing that pop cans are a serious health
risk," Geerts said. "There is no evidence to back up such a claim."

 The grocery association cites a link between redeemed containers and the
risk of e-coli, salmonella, listeria and other deadly bacterial diseases.
However, neither the Iowa Department of Public Health nor the Iowa
Environmental Health Association have any record of anyone becoming sick
because of a bacterial disease contracted as a result of redeemed beverage
containers.

"The truth is that grocery stores use many food handling and preparation
methods, all of which pose a far greater public health risk than bottles and
cans," Geerts said.

According to the state Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA), most
health inspection violations at grocery stores occur in food preparation
areas such meat departments, delis and seafood areas. Redemption areas are
inspected, but DIA knows of no instances of violation.

 The petition also proposes that the bottle bill be replaced with a
comprehensive recycling program. But grocers would be hard-pressed to devise
a method that betters Iowa's 92-percent recycling rate for redeemable
bottles and cans. To date, the grocery association has detailed no plans of
any kind.

 "Iowa's bottle deposit system is a model program for product
responsibility," Geerts said. "Manufacturers, distributors, grocers and
consumers all play a part in making sure beverage containers are kept out of
the litter and waste streams and are redeemed for recycling."

Grocers say they'll use the petition to convince legislators to repeal the
bottle bill, but public sentiment has proven to be squarely in favor of
keeping it. Almost 93 percent of Iowans favor the bottle bill, according to
a study conducted by the University of Northern Iowa. In addition, Gov. Tom
Vilsack and former governors Terry Branstad and Robert Ray have shown
support for expansion of the bill to include juice, water and sports drink
containers.

Many of Iowa's business leaders have made public statements of support for
expansion of the bottle bill. So have dozens of civic organizations,
including the Iowa State Association of Counties, the Iowa League of Cities,
the Iowa League of Women Voters, the Iowa Society of Solid Waste Operations
and virtually every environmental group in the state.

 "We're not opposed to looking at alternatives, but Iowa's bottle deposit
law works," Geerts said. "It instills an environmental ethic in Iowans, and
it provides a financial incentive for the recovery of metal, glass and
plastic containers."

 For more information, contact Jeff Geerts at (515) 281-8176, or by e-mail
at [log in to unmask]

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