MAINE MORNING STAR • December 5, 2024
The Board of Environmental Protection adopted rules for a program intended to decrease waste from excessive packaging and promote recycling, despite continued concerns from the business community. Maine is wrestling with what to do with the amount of waste discarded each year. While Vanessa Berry of the Natural Resources Council of Maine called it a practical solution to increase recycling and shift costs away from taxpayers, some of the corporations who will pick up that tab support its environmental benefits but worry about just how big of a line item it will become for them. The Stewardship Program for Packaging requires producers to pay into a fund based on how much packaging materials they are generating. That fund will be used to reimburse municipalities for recycling and waste costs.