Lawmakers in Iowa are expected to resume debate about changing the state’s five-cent deposit on bottles and cans.

The Iowa Grocery Industry Association and numerous convenience stores have lobbied legislators to eliminate the current law, instead looking for more broad recycling and littering legislation that eliminates their requirement to participate in the current deposit system.

Owner of the Pella Can and Bottle Redemption Center Sheri Cunningham is hopeful legislators will think long and hard about repealing the current bottle law.

“Right now, it’s a pay as you go system — you pay a nickel, you get a nickel,” she says. “If you move away from a bottle bill state to a curbside recycling program — that’s a tax, and you’re going to pay for it,” she says.

State Senator Ken Rozenboom told KNIA/KRLS News during the 2017 session that the current law isn’t as effective as it once was, citing the declining value of a nickel and a reduction in redemption centers.

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa recovers 86 percent of beverage containers – or over 1.8 billion, under the current deposit program, and opponents to the changes have argued that the number would significantly drop if the deposit incentive is eliminated.