US

Maine Makes Recycling Free In Nationwide First

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Thomas Catenacci Energy & Environment Reporter
Font Size:

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed legislation making recycling free for residents and shifting associated costs to large packaging companies.

The legislation, which Maine’s legislature passed with overwhelming support earlier this month, is the first bill nationwide to shift recycling costs away from consumers, according to its sponsor Democratic state Rep. Nicole Grohoski. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) must lay the groundwork for the program before implementing it by the end of 2023.

“This new law assures every Maine community that help with recycling and lowering the property tax burden is on the way,” Grohoski said in a statement. “Its time for packaging producers to take responsibility for their waste stream in the Pine Tree State, as they do in more than 40 other countries and regions worldwide.”

Under the program, packaging companies with more than $5 million in gross revenues will be responsible for collecting and recycling packaging materials such as cardboard boxes and plastic containers. The bill exempts small businesses, nonprofits and small farmers from the regulations. (RELATED: Europe Unveils Ambitious ‘Green Deal’ Plans To Cut Emissions By 2030)

Maine Gov. Janet Mills attends the United Nations Climate Action Summit alongside Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sept. 23, 2019 in New York City. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

Maine Gov. Janet Mills attends the United Nations Climate Action Summit alongside Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sept. 23, 2019 in New York City. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2019, the DEP estimated that local municipalities pay between $16 million and $17.5 million per year on recycling and disposal programs, according to the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). The costs have increased in recent years due to increasing online retail sales.

“The plastic industry and multinational corporations have reaped billions while they let plastic waste and packaging drive up costs for taxpayers and pollute Maine’s environment,” NRCM Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols said in a statement.

Similar programs exist in Europe and Canada, according to the NRCM. Corporations like Amazon and Unilever have already adapted to and complied with such laws.

“Maine will be a model for other states as the United States joins much of the rest of the developed world in creating a product stewardship regime that will increase recycling, improve waste management, save property taxpayers money, and put the cost of packaging disposal onto the producers and brand owners where it belongs,” Republican state Sen. Rick Bennett, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.

Oregon’s state legislature passed its own bill shifting recycling responsibilities to packaging companies late last month. The bill awaits Democratic Gov. Kate Brown’s signature.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel