Maine was the first U.S. state to enact packaging EPR, with LD 1541 (2021), which LD 1423 (signed June 2025) amended.
Facts on this page were last verified against primary sources on October 8, 2026. The EPR Atlas is re-checked weekly, and this stamp moves only when a verification pass runs.
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 producer 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.
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.
No program fee schedule has been published for Maine yet, so this page shows no per-material rates. The fee calculator shows a projection for Maine, estimated from Oregon’s 2026 rates and labeled as an estimate.
Source: LD 1541 (2021) / LD 1423 (2025) statute; Maine DEP Chapter 428. No SO selected (RFP drew no bids Aug 18, 2026); eco-modulated fee schedule not established (full eco-mod fees come in later years).
In Oregon this cycle, eco-modulation is three voluntary LCA bonuses, A, B, and C.
Multiplier floor: Not established - no SO exists to file a stewardship plan
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 (read September 25, 2026); CAA Maine page. Agency program page →
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.
Obligation follows a statutory cascade and the shape differs by state. Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, and Maine run five tiers: the manufacturer for goods under its own brand or in packaging lacking brand identification; the licensee that makes or 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 into the state. 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 that owns or is the licensee of the brand at tier 1, then the brand owner or exclusive licensee, then whoever sells or distributes in or into the state, with no importer tier (PRC 42041(w)). Store-brand and private-label goods usually land on the retailer whose brand appears, but the test differs in two states. 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)).
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.
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.
Covered materials / recyclability list not yet published; expected with the SO program plan. Covered materials / recyclability list →
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: 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.
The EPR Atlas hub includes interactive tools to model your Maine EPR cost exposure and compare it across all seven enacted states.