Maine confirms no packaging EPR reimbursements for towns in 2025-26
Maine's Department of Environmental Protection said on 28 October 2026 that the 111 municipalities signed up to its packaging extended producer responsibility programme will receive no reimbursement for material recycled in 2025 and 2026. The gap follows the failure of DEP's first tender for a stewardship organisation, which closed on 18 August with no bids; a revised RFP is now with the state's procurement office and no new timeline will be set until a contract is signed. Producer payment and registration deadlines, which run from the contract date under 38 M.R.S. section 2146, remain undefined five years after the law was enacted in July 2021.
Why this mattersProducers selling into Maine face an open-ended delay on EPR fee obligations, while towns absorb two years of recycling costs with no contracted stewardship organisation in sight.
- Maine DEP's 28 October 2026 bulletin says towns will get no reimbursement for packaging material recycled in 2025 and 2026
- 111 municipalities have told DEP they intend to join the packaging EPR programme
- DEP's first tender for a stewardship organisation, RFP-202605094, issued 15 June 2026, closed 18 August 2026 with no proposals
- A revised RFP has been sent to Maine's Office of State Procurement; no new timeline will be set until a contract is signed
- Producer deadlines under 38 M.R.S. section 2146 run from the contract date, five years after the law's enactment in July 2021
- Producers must pay within 180 days of the contract taking effect and register within 90 days of the stewardship organisation opening registration