Iowa’s can and bottle redemption program came up for debate in State Senate recently. Currently, most carbonated beverages such as soft drinks and beer are subject to a 5 cent deposit. At purchase, consumers in the state are charged a nickel for each can or bottle they purchase. If they bring them back, the consumer is refunded the nickel. The deposit is used as an incentive to prevent trash buildup in our state’s streets, fields and streams.

The bill was designed to expand the program to cover items such as bottled water, Gatorade bottles and iced tea bottles. Currently, none of those are covered, and many of them end up as litter or in landfills, where they will remain for eternity. A walk along some of Ames’ many bike paths will show you as much; the bottles seem to be everywhere.

The bill, unfortunately, was changed to provide for a simple study on the subject. Though 84 percent of Iowans favor the bottle redemption program and 44 percent favor expansion of the program, the bill faced fairly strong resistance.

While there are logistical concerns to consider, this bill should have been adopted. Opponents argue that bottle redemption centers in grocery stores can pose sanitary concerns, but an expansion of this program is likely to have a minimal impact on that.

The majority of the bottles the program would be expanded to would be non-sugared items, such as bottles of water, so they would not be likely to attract more pests. And although there is a greater potential for spillage, redemption machines are placed in areas of the store that are separated from the rest of the store. The grocers already have plans in place to prevent contamination of the returned cans.

Some opponents insist that a curbside program would be better for the state. Given the state’s rural environment, that is simply not the case. Not every town in Iowa has the kind of population that could support this. They are too small to warrant curbside pickup.

However, everyone in a small town, at some point, must get groceries. By encouraging people to bring the cans and bottles along with them, tons of pollution and refuse is kept out of landfills and the environment.

Protecting our environment should be of the utmost importance. And while it may be an inconvenience for retailers that accept cans and bottles, they get a handlers fee for each can returned. The rejected bill would have doubled that as well.

With the kind of popular support that this program enjoys, it should have been passed with little resistance. Instead, a large portion of the beverage bottles and cans purchased will end up as litter and garbage for yet another year.