The 2009 Maine Campaign

The 2009 amendments to the Maine deposit law effect a number of administrative changes, including the increase of the handling fee, rules for establishing redemption centers, and policies to manage the redemption of large quantities of containers at a time. The bill was signed into law in July.
Bill Number and Name Legislative Document 397 Final Bill text
Primary Sponsor Senator Nancy Sullivan
Handling Fees Increased to 4¢ effective March 1, 2010

Details

Consumers will probably not notice the changes made by the 2009 bottle bill amendments, but redemption centers and distributors will be affected.

The handling fee, paid by distributors to redemption centers and dealers, will be increase from 3.5¢ to 4¢ in March 2010.

To prevent out-of-state redemption fraud, people wishing to redeem more than 2,500 beverage containers at a time are required to provide their name, license plate number, and address each time they return containers in bulk. Exceptions are made for nonprofit organizations.

Several rules put into effect regarding where the process of licensing redemption centers. New rules also limit the number of redemption centers in a municipality, based on population.

Dealers and redemption centers are also required to pick up plastic bags used for the packaging of deposit beverages.

Progress

February 5, 2009: Introduced by Senate Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development

June 2, 2009: Amended in Senate and sent to House

June 12, 2009: Amended in House, passed in House and Senate

June 16, 2009: Signed into law by governor

Updated February 3, 2010