Recycling plastic bottles becomes focus of Rezayazdi’s master’s project

By Amanda Bailey

For many, recycling plastic bottles is either a way of life or one of life’s minor annoyances. For Soheil Rezayazdi (MAP candidate, Iowa City, Iowa), recycling plastic bottles is the topic of his master’s research project.

Rezayazdi is researching the Iowa bottle bill. According to Rezayazdi, 11 states currently have container deposit laws-- also known as bottle bills-- that require a deposit for certain disposable drink containers. Iowa’s bottle bill, originally introduced in 1979, requires a five-cent deposit on beer, soda, mineral water, wine and liquor bottles.

With the growing popularity of bottled water over the past several years, some states have expanded their bottle bills to include bottled water and legislators hope to reform Iowa’s bottle bill to do the same. Bottle redemption centers are also pushing to raise the deposit from five cents to 10. Rezayazdi’s project will weigh the facts of the bill and propose a solution about what Iowa should do about its bottle bill.

"The bottle bill is interesting because even though it’s been going on for years, no progress has been made," Rezayazdi said.

Rezayazdi was born in Iran and moved to the United States when he was 5 years old. Since then, he has lived in Iowa City. Rezayazdi received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Iowa in 2007 with majors in journalism and cinema and entered graduate school that same year. As a graduate student, Rezayazdi began working as a media intern for the Center of Global and Regional Environmental Research. It was this position that piqued his interest in the bottle bill.

"The job forced me to learn as much as I could about environmental matters, especially ones pertinent to Iowa… I just stumbled upon [the bottle bill] in doing everyday research," Rezayazdi said. "From there, the issue interested me more and more."

The project will have three components: a 5,000-word investigative article, seven op-ed columns and a proposal for a piece of legislation. So far, Rezayazdi has gauged the opinions of grocery store owners and talked to the Iowa Grocery Industry Association to see how they feel about the bottle bill.

He has found that almost all of the grocers he’s talked to have been opposed to the bill because they view the transport of used bottles in and out of their stores as unsanitary. Concerns about the lack of storage and the cost to sort and transport the bottles have also led many grocers to disapprove of the bill.

As far as the residents of Iowa are concerned, Rezayazdi said that most people don’t think twice about the bottle bill. He said that paying the five-cent deposit is habit for most people.

"I think people have grown up with the bottle bill, so I don’t think it even registers in their mind that, ’I lost a nickel and I’m not getting it back,’" Rezayazdi said.

Raising the deposit from five to 10 cents, Rezayazdi believes, is not politically feasible. However, he has found that the more he researches the bill, the more difficult the issue becomes. Rezayazdi still isn’t sure on which side of the debate he stands.

"It’s sad that we need someone to be like, ’Hey, if you don’t throw this in a ditch, I’ll give you a nickel,’" Rezayazdi said.

To Rezayazdi, however, recycling is critical.

"Recycling, to me, represents the last stand," Rezayazdi said.

"We shouldn’t need enormous recycling programs because, well, we should learn how to generate less waste in the first place. But I don’t think that’s going to happen, no matter how much you educate people or hit them with fines. So, to me, recycling is a pragmatic, almost cynical solution. Recycling means, yes, we know you’re going to keep buying and buying at furious rates, so let’s at least try and capture some of that material."

Associate Professor Steve Berry, Rezayazdi’s faculty advisor, describes Rezayazdi’s enthusiasm for the project as infectious.

"Being Soheil’s advisor has been a real pleasure, because his work ethic, initiative and writing ability has let me focus on serving as his sounding board for both the writing and the reporting and to try to give him the chance to take advantage of whatever I can offer from my long professional experience," Berry said.

Berry also said that the importance of Rezayazdi’s research goes much deeper than his master’s project.

"His work could be a significant contribution to the public discourse on protecting the environment and saving energy," Berry said.

Rezayazdi will defend his research in December. After that, he would like to work as an unpaid intern at Focus Features in New York City, a branch of Universal Pictures. There, he hopes to live out his passion for filmmaking, a passion that landed a spoof that Rezayazdi and his friends created airtime on Fox News’ "The O’Reilly Factor."

The video, which pokes fun at the controversy surrounding President Obama’s birth certificate, was discovered by a Fox intern who found the video on YouTube and decided to put it on the show.

"When I first heard about our video airing on ’The O’Reilly Factor,’ I refused to believe it," Rezayazdi said. "I spent three hours just saying to myself, ’This has got to be a strange joke.’ It made me very happy to know that this little video my friends and I conceived one afternoon in Capanna Coffee found its way to Papa Bear O’Reilly."

After months of lengthy bottle bill research and interviews, Rezayazdi looks forward to completing the project.

"Thinking about the final products is what keeps me going- the articles, photos, videos, etc.," Rezayazdi said. "It should be a nice collection of materials to show editors and employers in the future."