A bill recently passed out of an Iowa Senate committee dealing with changes to how cans and bottles would be redeemed.

District 24 Senator Jesse Green tells Raccoon Valley Radio the bill that was agreed upon by Republican Senators would double the handling fees, leave retail exempt, and re-routes those cans and bottles that aren’t redeemed, which he believes that distributors have been making millions of dollars on.

“What it does is that unredeemed nickel is going to come back to the state instead of to the distributors. It’s going to be a part of the ABD (Alcohol and Beverage Division) branch of the government. They have assured us that they’re ready to implement this program if we so choose.”

Green says politics might be the one hang-up with this bill.

“I think that if we can expose the reality of what’s going on right now, and let taxpayers know that the current bottle bill is so broken and they’re getting taken advantage of, I think we can put enough political pressure to get this bill across the finish line.”

Green adds, the current bottle bill has been in place since 1978, with no changes made to it since then.