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Section 13(D) of 38 M.R.S. § 2146 “Stewardship Program for Packaging” (the program) 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 review, 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.
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 invited 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 by May 20th, 2024. The Department received 11 requests which are now available for public review in the “Stakeholder Updates” box on the program’s website.
Written comments on the Packaging Material Exemption Requests are being accepted by the Department and should be sent to MainePackagingEPR@maine.gov by August 1, 2024.
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