Business groups urged Gov. Janet Mills to pause action on a new law designed to reduce packaging waste in order to bring Maine鈥檚 proposed rules into line with other states that have enacted similar laws. The law is designed to make corporations cover the cost of disposing of hard-to-recycle packaging by reimbursing municipalities for disposal costs and investing in recycling infrastructure statewide.
Under the law, companies that produce packaging materials must pay into a fund managed by a third-party stewardship organization contracted by the Department of Environmental Protection. Charges would be based on company size, packaging type and the weight of packaging that companies produce. Mills signed the law in 2021, but the state Board of Environmental Protection is currently determining the exact rules for its implementation.
However, the leadership at a half-dozen groups, including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said the board鈥檚 latest set of proposed rules could create uncertainty and undue hardship for businesses in a letter sent to Mills鈥� office. 鈥淲hile the stated purpose of this law is a positive one that we all support, the implementation of this law is proving to be incredibly challenging and frustrated by significant issues and flaws,鈥� the groups said in the letter.
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Author: Daniel Kool, Portland Press Herald