Unwrapping Maine’s Gift to the Environment: A New Packaging Stewardship Program Set to Launch in 2026

Beginning in May of 2026,[1] owners of brands selling packaged products and importers of foreign-produced packaged products sold in Maine will be required to adhere to Maine’s Stewardship Program for Packaging.[2] Beginning six months after the program launch, fees will be due, and six months after that, the sale of products in Maine that are not in compliance with the program will be banned. According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) “[t]he program’s purpose is to reduce the volume and toxicity and increase the recyclability of packaging material.” [3] The DEP’s goals are to reduce the burden on municipalities of managing packaging material and improve the design and management of packaging material.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans dispose of more than eighty million tons of packaging and containers annually. These materials comprise 28% of all municipal solid waste. Not surprisingly, more than 50% of the products are recycled,[4] but they are mainly made from traditional recyclable materials such as glass, aluminum, and steel containers, as well as corrugated boxes. Americans recycle only approximately 14% of plastic packaging.[5] We either combust or landfill the thirty-seven million tons of packaging and containers we don’t recycle. [6]

Currently, owners and importers of packaged products are not financially or practically responsible for managing their packaging material once it has served its purpose. Instead, consumers and municipalities bear those responsibilities. In effect, the stewardship program makes the packaging sources responsible for the end-of-life management of their packaging materials. This should ease the burden on consumers and municipalities.

To achieve this goal, the program requires producers to pay fees based upon the weight or volume and recyclability of packaging into a “stewardship organization” with which the DEP will contract after a public competition. The selected stewardship organization will take on multiple responsibilities, including the collection of fees, reimbursement of municipalities for the cost of managing end-of-life packaging, and investment in packaging reduction, recycling, and management.

Although the program does not mandate that all municipalities participate, participation is mandatory for packaging producers unless exempt. The program defines “producers” as (i) the owners of a brand of product sold or delivered “in or into” the state that uses packaging material and (ii) the sole entity that imports products in or into the state that is branded by an owner which has no physical presence in the United States and uses packaging materials. Thus, the program covers both in-state and out-of-state producers and importers of foreign products. The program also covers franchisors of franchised products but not local franchisees exempt from the program. The program also exempts producers:

• Who are not-for-profit organizations.
• Who had gross annual revenue less than $5M during the first three years of the program and less than $2M thereafter;
• Of less than one ton per year of packaging material in the state; or
• Of packaging for perishable food using less than 15 tons per year of packaging material.

One way a producer or group of producers can avoid paying the fee is to create their own “alternative collection program.”

The program does not encompass all packaging. The following are not considered “packaging materials”:

• Materials intended for the long-term storage or protection of a durable product that can be expected to be usable for that purpose for a period of at least five years;
• Beverage containers subject to the requirements of Chapter 33;
• Containers for architectural paint subject to certain approved and operational paint product stewardship programs under section 2144; and
• Other “federally regulated” packaging materials exempted by the DEP by rule.

On December 5, 2024, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection approved Maine DEP’s regulations implementing the stewardship program[7]. Those regulations lay out a process to characterize packaging material, provide a method for determining municipal reimbursement and producer fees, provide a method and criteria for investing in infrastructure and education, detail alternative collection programs, establish a cap for the packaging stewardship fund, and provide mechanisms for ongoing assessment and updates to the program.” [8]

According to Waste Dive[9] and the Product Stewardship Institute[10], Maine is not unique—five other states have adopted packaging producer responsibility laws, with California and Oregon’s programs to start in 2025 followed by Colorado’s in 2026. New York and New Jersey have producer responsibility bills covering packaging. In Massachusetts, the bills cover specific materials, such as paint. Until those states and Maine begin implementation, it is premature to know whether some commenters’ comments that the proposed system is too complex and burdensome will bear out or if the programs will lead to more recycling and less disposal of materials used in packaging.