S U FF E R ING U N DE R IOWA B OT TL E B ILL ME MB E R S POTLIGHT
By Reo Menning, Executive Vice President
AN I N T ERV IE W W I T H MA R K NELS ON, DYNO OI L As more bottle and can redemption centers close around the state, convenience stores are becoming the default redemption centers of the region. Every year, the number of bottles and cans redeemed at the small, minimally staffed stores increases. FUELIowa reached out to Dyno Oil to find out how convenience stores are managing redemption and at what cost. “We are accepting 30 percent more cans and bottles since the redemption centers in Spencer and Sprit Lake closed,� said Mark Nelson, President of Dyno Oil. He estimates that 100,000 bottles and cans are redeemed each month within his 13 store locations across northwest Iowa. Taking bottles and cans is not net zero for convenience stores as the law intended. Convenience stores were to be made whole on the nickel they gave out for each redeemed container plus a penny by the beverage distributors. But that is not what is happening. Instead of being a final location where beverage distributors would collect the containers, convenience stores are just another place where the cans and bottles accumulate before going to yet another collection site such as a redemption center or a recycling center. Convenience stores are now lucky to get 2 or 3 cents back per container, if anything,
18
