EPR update for producers of federally-regulated packaging material.

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EPR update for producers of federally-regulated packaging material.

Section 13(D) of 38 M.R.S. § 2146 “Stewardship Program for Packaging” requires the Department to review packaging material associated with federal laws and regulations to identify whether any content or construction standards preclude or significantly diminish a producer’s ability to increase the recyclability or reduce the volume of packaging material. After its review of federal laws and regulations, the Department did not identify any incompatibilities. However, given the complexity of federal laws and regulations, the Department invites those that believe there are federal content or construction standards that preclude or significantly diminish the ability of producers to increase the recyclability or reduce the volume of certain packaging material to complete and submit a Packaging Material Exemption Request to MainePackagingEPR@maine.gov by May 20, 2024.

The Department will review exemption requests, and, if the Department determines any such packaging material should be excluded from the packaging material definition, the Department shall initiate major substantive rulemaking to adopt an exclusion by rule.