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Kennebunk board hears ecomaine overview of recycling, new EPR rules and planned materials recovery facility
Summary
Ecomaine General Manager Kevin Roche told the Kennebunk Select Board on Jan. 13 that new Extended Producer Responsibility rules require municipalities to track recycling costs in 2026 with reimbursement beginning in 2027, and described a planned Materials Recovery Facility and an $8 million multi‑family recycling grant.
Kevin Roche, general manager of ecomaine, told the Kennebunk Select Board on Jan. 13 that the state’s new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program, effective Jan. 1, requires municipalities with recycling programs to document recycling costs this year and submit them to a stewardship organization that will administer partial reimbursements beginning in 2027.
Roche, who introduced ecomaine’s work to the board and noted that Kennebunk joined the organization July 1, 2025, said ecomaine serves 69 member communities and processes more than 175,000 tons of trash and 35,000 tons of recycling annually. He described ecomaine’s waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle, compost, waste‑to‑energy) and said the group is building a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) designed to process modern packaging with updated sorters and cleaner output.
Why this matters: Roche said packaging — not newspapers — now dominates recycling streams, increasing costs to municipalities. Under EPR, producers will share in those costs; municipalities must track their expenses through 2026 and submit them to the stewardship organization for reimbursement. Roche warned there will be “growing pains” as the program is implemented but said the Town’s decision to join ecomaine positions Kennebunk to claim reimbursements once the program’s processes are fully in place.
Roche also highlighted an $8 million grant aimed at increasing recycling access in multi‑family buildings (just 8% currently have on‑site recycling in Maine), and described the new MRF’s expected benefits: increased capacity, modern technology, cleaner material streams and additional education opportunities. He stated Kennebunk’s recycling rate over the July–December 2025 period is “around 30%,” noting that higher participation will increase eligible reimbursements under EPR.
Board members asked questions about the EPR rollout, costs, and food‑waste programming; Roche and Bea Johnson from ecomaine’s outreach department answered those questions and invited Board members to attend ecomaine’s annual meeting on June 18. The Board thanked Roche for the presentation.
