Iowa City Litter Crew

Meet the litter pickers calling on McDonald’s to clean up its act A group of volunteers is urging fast-food outlets and coffee chains to help cover the cost of cleaning up waste left by their customers

McDonald's also leads the way in Iowa City Litter Crew brand data. We find Chick-fil-A & Steak n Shake garbage 10 miles from the nearest location.

These companies need to be better neighbors and better stewards, and not rely on individuals using their own free time to clean up after them.

Bottle bill supporters face same challenges, new economic conditions for 2026 Bottle bills will face the same hurdles as in years’ past, but supporters in places like Maryland and Washington hope new perspectives on domestic manufacturing and EPR can help make their case.

Iowa's Bottle Bill is in dire need of updating, but the legislature seems to think it's working fine.

My 2025 data begs to differ:
* 673 water bottles
* 447 beer cans
* 150 pop cans
* 234 shooters
* 120 beer bottles
* 98 energy drink cans
* 98 pop bottles
* 64 sports drink bottles

#bottlebill

Does Iowa's updated bottle bill serve Iowans—or beverage distributors? Linda Schreiber: Lawmakers weakened one of Iowa’s most successful environmental policies while labeling it “modernization.”

New post by Linda Schreiber: Does Iowa's updated bottle bill serve Iowans—or beverage distributors?

www.bleedingheartland.com/2026/01/06/d...

NY is trying to improve their bottle bill, increasing the deposit to 10 cents and including more types of containers. Iowa needs to follow suit.

Bottles & cans litter our roadsides like crazy. We know bottle bills work. But five cents is no longer an incentive, and water bottles must be included.

Many stores stopped redeeming empties after Republicans gutted Iowa's 'bottle bill.' Three years later, the Sierra Club is calling for a review. - Little Village It’s been three years since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill gutting an important recycling law that had been in place for four decades. SF 2378 changed “the […]

Some Iowa groups and consumers say it's time to redeem Gov. Robert Ray's favorite piece of legislation: the 1979 "bottle bill," which was drained of its potency in 2022 with the passage of SF 2378.

We can all do our part upstream to reduce the number of bottles and cans that end up in our waterways. A better bottle bill would go a long way toward making sure this trash gets to where it's supposed to go.

Living Lands & Waters Living Lands & Waters is a one-of-a-kind "industrial strength" river cleanup operation. Spending up to 9 months a year living and working on a fleet of barges, the LL&W crew hosts river cleanups, wate

"Many people ask, 'What is the most common thing you find when cleaning the river?' By far, the most common item we pick up is the plastic bottle. The [LL&W] team and volunteers pick up tens of thousands of plastic bottles every year in addition to hundreds of aluminum cans and glass containers."

YouTube video by Japan with Nao Why Japan Has NO Trash Cans But Stays So Clean

Interesting perspective on litter and community from Japan. How can we implement/cultivate some of these strategies in Iowa City?

A deposit-based bottle recycling program could offer homeless communities an opportunity to make a profit - Street Sense Media Councilmember Brianne Nadeau sees a proposed bottle bill as an income opportunity for low-income residents.

New York isn't the only place working towards a bottle bill! Legislators and advocates in Washington D.C. are advancing a bill that would include a dime deposit for bottled and canned beverages sold there ♻️⭐️

streetsensemedia.org/article/bott...

Basic Sidewalk Cleaning The City of Portland now cleans the sidewalks along major business corridors and other high-impact areas to keep our community friendlier, safer, and more welcoming. Clean sidewalks promote health, sa...

This definitely seems like something Iowa City could do along the major trails and business areas outside downtown (where they already have the downtown ambassadors doing similar work).

Side note...where might one get one of those amazing litter-picking bicycles? 😍

Reuse and return schemes could help eliminate plastic pollution in 15 years, says report Pew Charitable Trusts finds plastic pollution will more than double globally by 2040 unless action taken

The Litter Crew picks up a huge amount of plastic in just the small area we patrol regularly. Something needs to be done on a larger scale, starting with fixing and expanding our bottle bill.

The hottest clubs in NYC these days are volunteer trash pickup groups The city's notoriously filthy streets are giving rise to a new generation of volunteer groups that want to make neighborhoods across the city a little cleaner.

Roving bands of citizens...doing good.

How extreme weather is making plastic pollution more mobile, more persistent and more hazardous | CNN Microplastics are already an environmental and health threat, but as the world heats up, they are becoming a much bigger and more hazardous problem, according to a new analysis

It's a local problem, and a global problem. What should be done about it?

A clear-cut piece of ground littered with scraps of plastic bags and other plastic litter.

A full white trash bag sits on the ground after a cleanup effort to pick up shredded plastic litter.

If you see something...DO something! All you need is a pair of gloves and a bag.

When restoration work along a local trail shredded plastic bags and other litter, a trail user spent an hour picking up the scraps.

It doesn't take much for one person to make a big difference.

YouTube video by Sierra Club Iowa Chapter Iowa Bottle Redemption Program - Review of 2022 Changes

Iowans understand our Bottle Bill is important. Our lawmakers need to take action and strengthen it:

1. Increase the deposit to 10 cents
2. Expand to include water bottles and other containers not currently covered.

The top 5 brands responsible for litter the Iowa City Litter Crew has picked up:

1. McDonald's
2. Great Value (Walmart)
3. Kirkland (Costco)
4. Anheuser-Busch
5. Hyvee

The last 4 are almost entirely single-use beverage containers that a better bottle bill would help prevent.

Bottle bill talks gain momentum amid America First buzz, EPR Eager to capture more high-quality material to incorporate into new packaging domestically, leaders from the competing plastic, glass and metal sectors are looking to jointly build on momentum from 20...

Not only do bottle bills help keep litter off our roadways and out of our waterways, they are also incredibly effective at making sure plastic and glass gets recycled as it should be.

Any lawmakers in Iowa who are against our bottle bill and find it "incredibly problematic"... the Iowa City Litter Crew would like to invite you to come pick up litter with us for a couple of months and tell us whether you feel the same. Bottle bills work. Fix them, don't undermine them.

A bottle bill Bill of Rights posted wherever deposit bottles are sold? That would be a great way to continue awareness about the deposit program and tell people how to redeem, especially since the changes that drastically cut the number of redemption centers in recent years.

What kind of fantastical beast should the litter crew create from water bottles and other trash we pick up?

The Litter Crew can attest that a better bottle bill is needed. Expand to include water bottles and other containers, increase the deposit to a dime, and get back to the original intent of the bill from almost 50 years ago.

A grassy part with a picnic bench in the background beneath blue sky. In the foreground, a municipal trash can stands surrounded by full bags of litter. A child's tricycle, a skateboard, and assorted other large items nestle among the trash.

Piled bags of litter collected near the Whispering Meadows Wetland Park pond sit next to a bench. The trash includes 3 tires, a broken box fan, and a large plant pot.

A before and after scene of a stormwater outlet. The "before" photo shows several beverage containers, toys, and assorted trash that had flowed into the natural area with stormwater. The "after" photo shows the same area now cleaned of the litter.

ICLC returned to Whispering Meadows Wetland Park Saturday morning. 5 volunteers spent 2+ hours cleaning up both the area around the Indigo Ct. playground and around the pond off Lakeside Dr.

Dry conditions allowed volunteers to get into areas that are normally under water, too, for a great haul!

50 single-use beverage containers in 30 seconds, all picked up on a single morning walk.

We can do better.

#bottlebill
#iowabottlebill
#betterbottlebill

Officials enact world-first ban on popular consumer product: 'They're useless and they're everywhere' In an effort to reduce pollution, Santa Cruz County will soon implement a ban, prohibiting the sale of filtered cigarettes.

More of this, please.
www.thecooldown.com/green-busine...