Maine Leads Nation in Recycling Legislation

What was it we learned in school  Reduce – Reuse – Recycle.

The recycle part, my mother taught me first hand. As a kid, we had to take the newspapers (remember those delivered to the house every day) and put them into the back of the station wagon. One Saturday a month if I remember. We would load them into the car and off we would drive to a place run by the city that had a big trailer, from a semi, and that’s where the old newspapers went. We had to put them in the trailer, all stacked neatly.

And that was a lot of years ago.  Since then most communities have recycled many more items than newspapers.  Glass.  Plastics. Etc.  Some areas have curbside pick-up.  In some areas, you have to take your recyclable stuff to the local transfer station.

However now some transfer stations are not recycling, they are just putting it into the regular trash. If there is nobody to buy or take the recyclables, I get it. What else can they do?

Well, Maine is doing something about it.  The first state in the nation to do so.  Earlier this month the Maine legislature passed recycling legislation that shifts the costs of recycling from us citizens to large corporations that distribute the packaging material.

So those communities who have scaled back or ended their recycling programs recently will be able to get programs started up again.

Good news for all. And hats off to all who recycle paper plastic and cardboard. And high fives for all who reduce  - reuse – recycle.