MAINE PUBLIC • April 23, 2020
Many Maine communities have pared back or dropped recycling programs in an effort to guard workers from potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Some big supermarkets have also curtailed in-store redemption efforts. To accommodate these moves, Gov. Janet Mills has ordered that the state ease enforcement of some recycling rules. Among other things, it allows recyclables to be burned at waste-to-energy plants — and still count those recyclables towards the state's goal of 50-percent recycling. Dave Burns, who directs the state's waste management programs, says the goal is to discourage towns with suspended recycling programs from sending the added material to landfills.