Bottles and cans piling up in the pandemic

DES MOINES – A battle waged this year over the future of Iowa’s more than 40-year-old ‘bottle bill” ended last month in surrender. But all Jim Cahill wants to know is when he can take his cans and bottles to redeem at the grocery store again. Cahill, of Ankeny, has about 200 in the garage. He says they’ve been piling up since Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a public health emergency March 17 that absolved grocery stores from having to take back the empties. The availability of can and bottle redemption centers at grocery stores has been hit and miss all…