recycling

The extended producer responsibility program will reimburse communities for disposal costs.

The Portland company intends to install a high-tech sorting system to handle expected growth.

Auburn city councilors voted to end curbside recycling in the spring of 2023 due to costs. A work session on the task force's recommendations will be conducted in September.

City councilors in Auburn have approved a new pilot program for curbside recycling after suspending the service in June.

After discontinuing a curbside recycling program last spring, Auburn city councilors voted unanimously Monday night to approve a new pilot program within designated areas of the city. Councilor Dana Staples called the pilot, which will start in November, a good step.

At a town hall Wednesday, the Municipal Review Committee said it has partnered with Innovative Resource Recovery, and is set to close the sale next week.

The bill would mean that redemption centers would have to do much less sorting than they do today. And a new, nonprofit cooperative would manage the collection program statewide.

That program has gotten more complex over the years, with a growing variety of plastic, glass and aluminum drink containers that redemption centers must sort into different bins. Lawmakers recently passed a funding boost for those centers. Now they’re looking to go further and streamline the process by which containers are collected and sent back for recycling.

Rural recycling programs have struggled for years, but the news that Maine’s fifth-largest city, less than 45 minutes from Portland, can’t keep a curbside recycling program afloat caused hand-wringing among residents and advocates.

Maine's redemption centers would receive a financial boost under a bill that is headed to Gov. Janet Mill's desk.