In July 2021, Maine became the first state in the nation to adopt a law requiring companies that create consumer packaging to pay for the costs of recycling.
LD 1541 establishes an “extended producer responsibility” program that will charge large packaging producers for collecting and recycling cardboard boxes, plastic containers and other packaging materials, as well as for disposing of nonrecyclable packaging. In effect, the first-in-the-nation EPR packaging law requires producers of packaged goods sold in the state to finance municipal recycling programs.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging has been put into practice throughout Europe and in several Canadian provinces, including Maine neighbor Quebec. Many U.S. states already have EPR programs for goods that are hard to dispose of, such as batteries, mattresses and medicines.