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Maine packaging EPR law: producer compliance guide

Maine was the first U.S. state to enact packaging EPR, with LD 1541 (2021), which LD 1423 (signed June 2025) amended.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Governing Law
LD 1541 (2021) / LD 1423 (signed Jun 2025)
Fee Start
Not established; DEP is reassessing its start-up registration and invoicing dates after the RFP drew no bids
Max Penalty
DEP enforces (Chapter 428 final rules Dec 2024, amended March 3, 2026, filing 2026-056)
Administering Agency
Maine DEP
PRO / Administrator
No SO. RFP-202605094 closed Aug 18, 2026 with zero proposals; CAA declined to bid; DEP said Sep 11, 2026 it will revise and reissue the RFP, with no date given
De Minimis
<1 ton into ME OR <$2M total gross revenue OR more than 50% of revenue from goods acquired through insurance salvages, closeouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations (2146(2)(C)); any one qualifies; the revenue line is $5M for the period from one year to three years after the SO contract takes effect (38 MRSA 2146(2)). Statute and Chapter 428 both say "ton" without specifying metric or short
Program fees are not yet active in Maine, and no program fee schedule has been published.

Program status and the fee start date

The program is still pre-operational and, as of August 2026, has no administrator at all. Maine DEP issued Stewardship Organization (SO) selection RFP-202605094 on June 15, 2026. It closed on August 18, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. with zero proposals submitted, and the Circular Action Alliance says it decided not to submit a bid (CAA Maine page; CAA newsletter, August 2026). DEP announced the result on August 20 and said it was assessing all options, and on September 11, 2026 said it was reviewing necessary updates to the RFP and would inform stakeholders once the revised RFP was available. No SO means no fee clock, no registration mechanism, and no registration, reporting, or fee obligation. Producers must register within 90 days of the date an SO makes a registration mechanism available. Startup fees would be due within 180 days of an SO contract, but DEP's program page says it is currently reassessing the anticipated schedule.

The threshold, the transitional figure, and the food carve-out

Maine's de minimis threshold is less than 1 ton OR less than $2,000,000 in total gross revenue in the prior calendar year, either condition alone granting full exemption (38 MRSA 2146(2)). A third test also exempts a producer that realized more than 50% of its total gross revenue in the prior calendar year from goods acquired through insurance salvages, closeouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations (38 MRSA 2146(2)(C)). A transitional $5,000,000 threshold applies from one calendar year after the DEP and stewardship organization contract takes effect until three years after that date. Maine also exempts every producer from its first 15 tons of packaging used for perishable food, which the statute defines to include bakery products, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, shell eggs, and fresh produce, and to exclude food sold frozen other than frozen wild blueberries.

Fee schedule by material

No program fee schedule has been published for Maine yet, so this section shows no program fee rates. The fee calculator shows a projection for Maine, estimated from Oregon’s 2026 rates and labeled as an estimate.

Eco-modulation factors

◐ SignaledDescribed in an official source (statute, draft rule, or CAA plan) but not yet final, or specific values not yet set.

Source: LD 1541 (2021) / LD 1423 (2025) statute; Maine DEP Chapter 428, Section 10(A)(2) and (3). The fee multipliers and incentive fee percentages are set in the adopted rule. The per-ton costs they apply to are not yet set, because no SO has been contracted (the RFP drew no bids, Aug 18, 2026).

Fee reductions (bonuses)

No separate bonus in Chapter 428. Readily recyclable material types pay their own per-ton cost, and other types pay a multiple of it (Section 10(A)(2)).

Fee increases (maluses)

Not readily recyclable material types: two times the average per-ton cost of the most expensive readily recyclable type, rising to three, four, or five times from 2031 if the readily recyclable goal is unmet (Section 10(A)(2)) Post-consumer recycled content fee: 10% of the material type fee when the producer misses the PCR goal (Section 10(A)(3)) Toxicity fee: 10% of the material type fee without a manufacturer certificate of no intentionally added toxics (Section 10(A)(3)) Labeling fee: 20% of the material type fee when a label points to a recycling or other pathway not available statewide (Section 10(A)(3)) Litter fee: 10% of the annual registration fee for a brand among the top five in litter audits for three years running (Section 10(A)(3))

Multiplier floor: Two times for any material type that is not readily recyclable (Chapter 428, Section 10(A)(2)); the per-ton costs it multiplies are not yet set

Chapter 428 sets the multipliers and incentive fee percentages, and the incentive fees start in the third calendar year in which producers report. The per-ton costs are not yet set. Maine DEP's SO selection RFP closed Aug 18, 2026 with zero proposals and CAA declined to bid, so no SO exists, and startup fee timing and the operational date are not established.

Program plan status

Confirmed

Plan submitted: No. Maine uses the term Stewardship Organization rather than PRO, and none has been selected yet.

Agency approved: Not applicable until an SO is under contract.

Where it stands: DEP issued Stewardship Organization RFP-202605094 on June 15, 2026; it closed August 18, 2026 with zero proposals and CAA says it decided not to bid. DEP announced this August 20, and on September 11, 2026 said it would revise the RFP. Its own tracker places the program at step four of nine, contracting with a Stewardship Organization.

Next milestone: The SO selection RFP closed August 18, 2026 with zero proposals and CAA says it decided not to bid. DEP announced this August 20, and on September 11, 2026 said it was reviewing necessary updates to the RFP and would inform stakeholders once the revised RFP was available. Its program page says it is currently reassessing the anticipated schedule. Producers still get 90 days to register once an SO opens a registration mechanism, and no SO exists.

Source: Maine DEP bulletins of August 20 and September 11, 2026, and DEP program page (accessed September 25, 2026); CAA Maine page. Agency program page →

Reporting deadlines and program dates

Jun 15, 2026
DEP issued SO selection RFP-202605094
Aug 18, 2026
RFP closed with zero proposals; CAA says it decided not to bid
Aug 20, 2026
DEP announced no bids and is assessing all options
Sep 11, 2026
DEP announces it will revise the SO RFP. Program sits at step four of nine, Contracting an SO, and the schedule is being reassessed. No reissue date and no open solicitation
May 31 (annual)
Producer reporting, on DEP's fixed annual calendar Producer action
Jul 1 (annual)
Producer invoicing
Sep 1 (annual)
Producer payment Producer action
Oct 1 (annual)
Municipal reimbursement
TBD
Startup fees would be due within 180 days of an SO contract, and only from producers other than low-volume producers (Ch. 428); no SO exists after the Aug 18, 2026 RFP drew no bids Producer action
TBD
Full program operational if an SO is designated on the revised schedule

Program notes

Maine was the first U.S. state to enact packaging EPR and is still pre-operational. Maine DEP issued the Stewardship Organization (SO) selection RFP-202605094 on June 15, 2026. It closed August 18, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. with zero proposals submitted, and the Circular Action Alliance says it decided not to submit a bid (CAA Maine page; CAA newsletter, August 2026). DEP announced the result on August 20 and said it was assessing all options; on September 11, 2026 it said it was reviewing necessary updates to the RFP and would inform stakeholders once the revised RFP was available (DEP bulletin, September 11, 2026). No SO has been selected, so no producer registration, reporting, or fee obligation is running in Maine.

Covered products scope

Packaging material that contains, protects, delivers, or presents a product at the time it leaves a point of sale with, or is received by, the consumer (38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)); Maine covers no paper products. Statutory exclusions: long-term storage of durable products, beverage containers under the bottle bill, architectural paint containers under a performing paint stewardship program, and material DEP excludes by rule. No medical, pharmaceutical, or hazardous exclusion exists in statute or rule. Section 2146(13)(D) directs DEP to review, at a minimum, packaging for drugs, medical devices, biological products, tamper-evident over-the-counter drugs, and products that need special packaging under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act, and to adopt by rule any exclusion it finds warranted, which Chapter 428 has not done. Chapter 428 instead lists HDPE (#2) and mixed resin (#7) containers for hazardous products as their own chargeable material types, both rated not readily recyclable.

Exemptions and exclusions

The following categories may be fully or partially exempt from producer obligations in Maine. Verify applicability with Maine DEP (MainePackagingEPR@maine.gov) before excluding any materials; no Stewardship Organization or reporting portal exists yet.

De minimis (small producer)Out of scopeAutomatic by law
<1 ton placed on market OR <$2M total gross revenue OR more than 50% of revenue from goods acquired through insurance salvages, closeouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations (2146(2)(C)); any one qualifies. The revenue line is $5M for the period from one year to three years after the SO contract takes effect. Statute and Chapter 428 both say “ton” without specifying metric or short.
38 MRSA 2146(2)
Government and nonprofitEntity-side reliefAutomatic by law
A nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) is not a producer at all: the producer definition "does not include" it. There is no government exclusion.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(O)
Paper and wood-fiber millsNo provision
No mill exclusion. Only Minnesota and Maryland carve out mills, and they carve out the same two categories.
38 MRSA 2146
Restaurant and single-location retailNo provision
No restaurant or single-retail exclusion in the producer definition.
38 MRSA 2146
Beverage manufacturer volume testNo provision
No raised volume threshold for beverage manufacturers. Oregon is the only state of the seven with one, and the ordinary de minimis test applies here instead.
38 MRSA 2146(2)
Alcohol licenseeNo provision
No alcohol licensee exclusion, and no on-premises alcohol carve-out in the revenue test either. Maryland is the only state that excludes alcohol licensees from the producer definition, and only those licensed under Title 2 of its Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis Article with less than $10,000,000 in gross revenue in the preceding calendar year; Colorado and Washington carve on-premises sales out of their revenue thresholds instead.
38 MRSA 2146
B2B and transport packagingConditionalAutomatic by law
Maine's position changed in 2025. A “consumer” now includes a commercial business that uses or partners with a municipal or state waste management service, so packaging reaching such a business is in scope. The same definition leaves out a person that manufactures products where the packaging material for those products is managed, and its management costs are paid, by that person or by a producer, and the packaging material is “used solely for transportation of the products to persons that are not consumers” or is used for or generated by the person as part of the manufacturing process. There is no general B2B exclusion.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(C-1), added by PL 2025 c. 383
Hazardous or flammable (OSHA HazCom)No provision
No hazard-based exclusion exists. The list excludes only four things: five-year durable storage, beverage containers subject to Maine's returnable container law (chapter 33), architectural paint containers subject to a performing stewardship program, and anything DEP excludes by rule under subsection 13(D). DEP's Chapter 428 adopts no hazardous exclusion. Its Appendix A instead makes hazardous packaging chargeable material types: “HDPE (#2) containers for hazardous materials (flammable, corrosive, reactive, toxic)” and the matching mixed resin (#7) type, both rated not readily recyclable. Metal pressurized cylinders are a separate chargeable type.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
DOT dangerous goodsNo provision
No DOT-based exclusion.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Refillable LPG and pressurized containersNo provision
No LPG or pressurized-container exclusion. Chapter 428 Appendix A instead carries a metal pressurized-cylinder chargeable material type.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Pesticides (FIFRA)No provision
No FIFRA exclusion. Maine is the only one of the seven states with none. The 2146(13)(D) mandatory rule-review list names four federally regulated product families and pesticides are not among them.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Beverage containers and deposit programsOut of scopeAutomatic by law
A beverage container as defined in section 3102(2) and subject to the chapter 33 deposit requirements: a sealed bottle, can, jar, or other container of glass, metal, or plastic holding 4 liters or less. Wine and spirits in those containers are out of scope, large formats above 4 L stay covered, and a bag-in-box stays covered at any size, because 3102(2) excludes a container composed of cardboard in combination with a plastic liner. California excludes wine at any size, and Oregon excludes wine in cans, which carry an Oregon refund value from July 1, 2025.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(2) with 38 MRSA 3102(2)
Medical, drug, and deviceNo provision
Maine excludes no medical, pharmaceutical, or FDA-regulated packaging, by statute or by rule, and it is the only one of the seven enacted states with no medical exclusion. 2146(1)(I) runs four items and none is medical. CORRECTED 2026-09-09: this row previously said the relief came from DEP rules adopted under subsection 13(D). Chapter 428 contains no occurrence of pharmaceutical, medical device, medical, prescription, drug, FDA, or Food and Drug, including in the current text as amended March 3, 2026 (filing 2026-056). Its one related provision is a waiver of the post-consumer recycled material incentive fee for packaging that federal content or construction standards keep from meeting the recycled-content goals.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4); 06-096 CMR ch. 428 as amended March 3, 2026 (filing 2026-056)
AgriculturalNo provision
No agricultural exclusion, material-side or entity-side. Oregon excludes farm and nursery items, and Colorado and Washington exempt qualifying agricultural employers as producers. Maine does neither.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Paint stewardship containersConditionalAgency determination
Conditional, and the condition is a performance test no other state applies. The exclusion holds only as long as a paint stewardship program is operating, has been approved by DEP under section 2144, and the stewardship organization has demonstrated to DEP's satisfaction that it recycles at least 90 percent of the architectural paint containers collected, or at least 80 percent subject to DEP approval where 90 cannot be met. If the rate falls and DEP is not satisfied, the exclusion stops applying.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(3) via 2144(1)(A)
Long-term storage, five yearsOut of scopeAutomatic by law
Material intended for the long-term storage or protection of a durable product and that can be expected to be usable for that purpose for at least five years. No agency determination is attached, unlike California and Maryland.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1)
Commercial recycling routeNo provision
No high-recycling-rate exit like California's. Since PL 2025 c. 383, a commercial business is a “consumer” only if it uses or partners with a municipal or state waste management service, so packaging that reaches a business served only by private haulers may fall outside the program. The statute does not address that case directly.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Construction and contractorsNo provision
No construction exclusion.
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(1) to (4)
Agency catch-allConditionalAgency determination
Anything DEP excludes from the definition of packaging material by rule adopted under subsection 13(D). Any medical, drug, over-the-counter, or Poison Prevention Packaging Act exclusion would have to come through it, because 2146(13)(D) directs DEP to review those four categories and to adopt any exclusion by major substantive rule. Chapter 428 as amended March 3, 2026 (filing 2026-056) adopts none; its exemptions clause reads "Any packaging material exempted from 38 M.R.S. § 2146 by Department rulemaking is exempt from this Chapter."
38 MRSA 2146(1)(I)(4) with 2146(13)(D)
Maine is pre-operational and has no Stewardship Organization: the DEP RFP closed August 18, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. with zero proposals and CAA declined to bid. Startup fee timing is no longer established. Exclusions come from the statute and from any exclusion the department adopts by rule under 38 MRSA 2146(13)(D), not from an SO plan. The statutory exclusion list is unusually short, at four items.

Responsible producer

Obligation follows a statutory cascade and the shape differs by state. Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, and Maine run five tiers for items sold at a physical retail location: the manufacturer for goods under its own brand or in packaging lacking brand identification; the licensee that manufactures and sells under a brand owned by another party; the brand owner; the U.S. importer where none of those exists in the United States; then the person that first distributes the item in or into the state (RCW 70A.208.020(29)(a)(i); Md. Envir. 9-2501(p)(1)(i) and COMAR 26.04.14.02B(25)(b); Minn. Stat. 115A.1441 subd. 26(a)(1); 38 MRSA 2146(1)(O)(1)). The Oregon and Colorado statutes run three tiers: own-brand or unbranded manufacturer, licensee, then the importer into the United States (ORS 459A.866(1)(a); C.R.S. 25-17-703(30)(a)); in Oregon there is no brand-owner tier. The Colorado rule then sets the order of obligation in four steps (6 CCR 1007-2 Part 1, s18.2.2(A)): the brand owner directing or performing the manufacturing of the packaging, then the brand or trademark licensee directing it, then the manufacturer where no brand is identified, then the importer. California reaches a manufacturer in the state that owns or is the licensee of the brand at tier 1, then the brand owner or exclusive licensee in the state, then whoever sells or distributes in or into the state, with no importer tier (PRC 42041(w); 14 CCR 18980.1.1(a)). Store-brand and private-label goods usually land on the retailer whose brand appears, but the test differs in three states. Colorado's rule reaches the brand owner first only where it directs or performs the manufacturing of the packaging (6 CCR 1007-2 Part 1, s18.2.2(A)(1)). In Oregon the retailer is reached only where it directs the manufacturing, including setting packaging specifications, and ordering finished goods for resale in the normal course of business is not directing manufacturing (OAR 340-090-0860(1)(a)). In California an in-state manufacturer that owns the brand or is licensed to manufacture the goods is the producer ahead of the brand owner (14 CCR 18980.1.1(c)(1)). Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, and Maine make the franchisor the producer where it has franchisees with a commercial presence in the state, and Colorado's rule does so where it has franchisees that operate in Colorado (RCW 70A.208.020(29)(a)(vi)(B); COMAR 26.04.14.02B(25)(g); Minn. Stat. 115A.1441 subd. 26(a)(6)(ii); 38 MRSA 2146(1)(O); 6 CCR 1007-2 Part 1 s18.2.2).

ME: Same hierarchy; a Stewardship Organization would confirm producer determinations, but none has been selected. General framework; verify the statutory definition and your specific role before registering.

What you report and covered materials

These attributes are the fee inputs, so they are best captured at design time. Maine has no Stewardship Organization and no reporting portal yet, so nobody collects them there today; registration follows once an SO makes a registration mechanism available. Retain supporting records to substantiate reports, exemptions, and credits, for the period your PRO agreement and the state program set.

Chapter 428 Appendix A, the Packaging Material Types List (added March 2026), lists each material type and marks whether it is readily recyclable, compostable, or reusable. Covered materials / recyclability list →

Design levers: PCR, source reduction, and toxics

Signaled

Chapter 428 sets post-consumer recycled material goals by base material of at least 10% from 2030, 20% from 2040, and 30% from 2050 (06-096 CMR ch. 428, s3(A)(9)). From the third calendar year of producer reporting, packaging that misses its goal pays an incentive fee of 10% of its material type fee, and the rate rises by the statewide shortfall once a base material misses its goal (s10(A)(3)(a)). A producer held to a federal content standard can seek a waiver (s21).

Chapter 428 also sets a reduction goal: packaging reported per capita should fall at least 40% from 2040 and 60% from 2050, measured against the fifth reporting year (s3(A)). The program goals guide fees and investments and are not used to measure compliance.

Maine limits lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium to 100 ppm combined in any package or packaging component (32 MRSA 1733(3)), bans intentionally added phthalates in food packages from January 1, 2022 (1733(3-A)), and lets DEP ban intentionally added PFAS in a food package by rule once it finds a safer alternative (1733(3-B)); both food-package bans exempt food and beverage manufacturers with under $1 billion in national sales (1733(3-C)).

Sources: Maine Reduction of Toxics in Packaging (32 MRSA 1731 to 1735); Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse state map (Maine: non-member state with legislation). The EPR fee calculator models the dollar impact of a design change, and this section does not estimate fees.

Statute and rule text

Statute: LD 1541 (2021), as amended, codified at 38 M.R.S. 2146. Read the statute →

Implementing rule: Chapter 428, Packaging Stewardship Program (06-096 C.M.R. ch. 428). Adopted December 2024 and amended March 3, 2026 (filing 2026-056) to add the Appendix A packaging material types list. Read the rule →

Primary sources. Where the statute and an agency summary disagree, the statute and the adopted rule control.

Frequently asked questions

Does Maine use the term PRO for its program administrator?
No. Maine uses the term Stewardship Organization (SO), not PRO. There is currently no SO of any kind: DEP's RFP-202605094 closed on August 18, 2026 with zero proposals and the Circular Action Alliance says it decided not to submit a bid (CAA Maine page; CAA newsletter, August 2026).
When do Maine EPR fees begin?
There is no date. Fees would be due within 180 days of a Stewardship Organization contract, but DEP's SO selection RFP closed on August 18, 2026 with zero proposals and CAA says it decided not to bid. DEP announced this on August 20 and said it is assessing all options; its program page now says it is reassessing the anticipated schedule, and on September 11, 2026 it said it is revising the RFP.
What is Maine's de minimis threshold?
Less than 1 ton placed on the Maine market OR less than $2,000,000 in total gross revenue in the prior calendar year, either alone granting full exemption (38 MRSA 2146(2)). A third test also exempts a producer that realized more than 50% of its total gross revenue in the prior calendar year from goods acquired through insurance salvages, closeouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations (38 MRSA 2146(2)(C)). A transitional $5,000,000 threshold applies for the period from one calendar year after the DEP and stewardship organization contract takes effect until three years after it, a two-year window (38 MRSA 2146(2)(A)). Maine does not specify metric or short ton. Separately, every producer is exempt on its first 15 tons of packaging used for perishable food, a category that expressly includes bakery products, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, shell eggs, and fresh produce and excludes food sold frozen other than frozen wild blueberries.
What level of supply report detail does Maine require?
None today. Maine has no stewardship organization, so no registration mechanism and no report exists; under DEP Chapter 428, start-up registration with an estimated-tonnage report is due within 90 days of the date an SO makes a registration mechanism available. Oregon and Colorado take weight by material reporting category, 62 categories in Oregon and 61 in Colorado, plus the brands covered and the methodology used; neither files per SKU.