The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is hiring a contractor to run a new program that makes manufacturers and companies responsible for the cost to get rid of packaging waste.

The department issued a request for proposals this month for a “stewardship organization” that will oversee the day-to-day operations of its extended producer responsibility program.

The program would shift the costs of disposing packaging waste from municipal taxpayers to packaging producers, said Vanessa Berry, sustainable Maine program director at Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Under the program, participating towns and cities would submit records of packaging materials collected then apply for reimbursement for certain costs.

“So the role of the stewardship organization in this is to facilitate that exchange and make sure that the program is achieving the goals that we set when we passed this law back in 2021,” Berry said.

The organization will also be responsible for maintaining a public website and online submission portal, conducting outreach and education and overseeing industry-funded investments in waste management and recycling infrastructure in Maine.

The extended producer responsibility program is a response to the rising costs of recycling that has prompted some communities to reduce or eliminate recycling programs.

So far, however, most Maine towns and cities have not indicated whether they plan to participate, according to a survey from the Department of Environmental Protection.

Only 80 municipalities, about 18% of the total and including major population centers such as Portland and South Portland, indicated they would get involved with the program. Twenty towns and cities said they would not.

The vast majority, however, did not answer the question, the department’s data show.

Sydney Harris, policy director at Upstream, a waste reduction nonprofit, expects the program to grow over time.

“Once the stewardship organization is selected, once the guidance is published, once there’s a plan in place and they know who to even talk to, you will start to see a groundswell of cities participating, I think, in the next couple years,” Harris said.

Organizations interested in running the program have until early August to apply.

This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.