MRC Members,

 

Many of you may have seen the Portland Press Herald article or Maine Municipal Association memo this week about the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's effort to draft legislation to support recycling in the state. 

 

The MRC supports the goals of the draft Resolve to promote increased recycling and to encourage and provide incentives for those involved in packaging design, manufacturing and specification to incorporate considerations of recyclability into packaging designs.

 

As sponsors and hosts of Maine's newest and most advanced recycling facility, MRC wants to ensure that the contemplated measures support and are consistent with the approach to recycling being pursued by MRC member communities, which involves recovery of materials and products from processing mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) rather than source separation.

 

Any system that involves monitoring of recycling rates or payments to communities needs to account properly for the advantages of mixed MSW processing.  MRC members should not be undercompensated or penalized for achieving higher rates of diversion through use of new advanced technology at the Coastal Resources of Maine facility. Thus, monetary incentives, if any, should target impacts of packaging that is not recyclable because it cannot be processed or sorted (such as composite materials) rather than track a general level of recovery that results from decisions on collection and processing.

 

The MRC will be working with the Maine DEP, MMA and other stakeholders to advance the Resolve in ways that will achieve these objectives fairly and efficiently.

 

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

 

Mike Carroll

MRC Executive Director

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