MAINE PUBLIC • January 6, 2023
Maine lost ground in its efforts to recycle more of its waste during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic. While state law says that Maine should have recycled or composted at least half of its municipal waste by 2021, it only recycled about 34% of trash in both 2020 and 2021, down from recycling 38% of municipal waste in 2017. Recycling has grown more expensive and more than 100 communities across Maine have been burning or burying most of their trash since the closure of a waste processing facility in Hampden in spring of 2020. While those numbers concern Sarah Nichols, who oversees waste programs at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, she says lawmakers have recently passed legislation that could help address the problem, including a plastic bag ban, a restriction on out-of-state demolition waste in the state landfill, and a program that will charge fees to companies that make packaging waste to support local recycling efforts.