How Maine is quietly becoming a national leader in Zero Waste

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While much of the country debates how to deal with growing amounts of waste, Maine has been steadily passing policies that tackle the problem. From reducing food waste to expanding reusable containers and rejecting false solutions, the state is building a Zero Waste system prioritizing prevention over disposal. Together, these victories show what happens when policymakers focus on redesigning the system – not simply managing waste. As other states search for solutions to landfills and plastic pollution, Maine is quietly offering a roadmap for the future.

Embracing the Zero Waste philosophy

Most conversations about waste focus on recycling. But recycling alone can’t solve the growing waste crisis. Every year, enormous amounts of food, packaging, and plastic are buried in landfills or burned in incinerators. To truly tackle all this waste, we need to prevent it from being created in the first place. That’s the idea behind Zero Waste. Rather than focusing on what happens after something is thrown away, Zero Waste policies reduce unnecessary waste, keep valuable materials in use longer, and stop pollution before it’s created.

Over the last few years, Maine has quietly embraced that philosophy. While these policies haven’t attracted the same attention as some national environmental debates, together they represent one of the country’s most comprehensive approaches to reducing waste. By tackling food waste, making reuse easier, and rejecting false solutions like chemical recycling, Maine is demonstrating what a modern Zero Waste system can look like – and why other states should be paying attention.

Tackling the biggest thing in our trash: food waste

One of Maine’s most significant recent victories addresses something many people don’t immediately associate with the waste crisis: food. According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP), food waste makes up nearly 40% of the state’s waste stream, making it one of the largest contributors to Maine’s landfills. Commercial businesses (grocery stores, universities, and food distributors) alone generate more than 130,000 tons of food waste each year.

To address this, Maine passed LD 1065 in 2025. Starting in 2030, the law will divert food waste from landfills and incinerators from institutions generating at least two tons of organic waste per week within 20 miles of a recycling facility. In 2032, the law will expand to those generating one ton within 25 miles. Under the law, these businesses must reduce food waste, donate edible surplus food whenever possible, and recycle remaining food scraps through nearby composting or anaerobic digestion facilities.

The policy is not a complete statewide ban on food waste disposal. Many smaller or more remote generators will remain exempt unless Maine DEP lowers the threshold or expands the geographic radius. Still, the law is a meaningful step toward the infrastructure and systems needed to prevent and recycle more food waste over time.

The benefits of this law extend far beyond waste reduction. Diverting food waste will help extend Maine’s limited landfill capacity. That includes the Juniper Ridge Landfill, which is projected to reach capacity within the next few years. It will also help reduce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas produced when organic materials like food, break down in landfills. And by prioritizing food donation before composting, the law ensures edible food reaches people facing food insecurity, rather than being thrown away.

This victory was years in the making. Just Zero worked alongside lawmakers, state agencies, and advocates to help draft bill language, develop technical resources, negotiate implementation details, testify before lawmakers, and build public support.

Making reuse the easy choice

Reducing waste isn’t just about what gets thrown away. It’s also about creating systems that make it easier to avoid disposable products altogether. That’s exactly what Maine’s reusable container legislation aims to do. The law (LD 2091) gives businesses the option to let customers bring their own reusable containers for food, beverages, and other products without regulatory barriers. This isn’t a mandate requiring every restaurant or grocery store to participate. Rather, it gives businesses the flexibility to offer reuse while providing customers with the option to choose reusable containers over single-use packaging.

That flexibility has the potential to make a huge impact. Recycling alone can’t keep up with the enormous volume of disposable packaging. But with reuse, materials stay in circulation longer, ultimately reducing the demand for new packaging while helping businesses cut costs on single-use containers.

And that’s not all the legislation does. It also supports the state’s modernized Bottle Bill – paving the way for reusable beverage containers. And, it aligns with Maine’s first-in-the-nation Extended Producer Responsibility program for packaging, which encourages producers to move toward reusable and refillable systems. Together, these policies aren’t simply about replacing one container with another. They’re about making reuse a normal, everyday part of how products move through our communities.

Saying no to false solutions

Building a Zero Waste future isn’t only about adopting better policies. It also means recognizing when proposed solutions don’t actually solve the problem. One of the biggest examples is so-called chemical recycling. Despite its name, chemical recycling doesn’t function like traditional recycling. Instead of turning used plastics back into new products at scale, chemical recycling technologies break plastics down into fuels or chemical feedstocks that are burned. This process is energy-intensive and polluting, while also failing to reduce demand for new plastic production.

Recognizing these shortcomings, Maine became the first state to effectively prohibit chemical recycling. The new law makes clear that these facilities are waste facilities, not manufacturing plants – subjecting them to the same requirements as other waste operations. It also clarifies that converting plastic into fuels or chemicals to be burned doesn’t count as recycling. Most importantly, the law bans the development of chemical recycling unless a facility can consistently recycle at least 50% of the plastic waste it accepts – something no facility has ever achieved.

Rather than investing in technologies that extend our dependence on plastic, Maine chose to prioritize solutions that reduce waste. This decision will protect communities from pollution while preventing greenwashing that misleads both policymakers and the public. Just Zero helped make this landmark victory a reality by drafting the law, educating policymakers about chemical recycling, and testifying in support of the bill throughout the legislative process.

Building the future of Zero Waste

At first glance, these victories may seem like separate policy wins. But together, they tell a much bigger story. Each one tackles a different part of the waste system. Food waste policies prevent valuable resources from being buried in landfills. Reuse laws reduce the need for disposable packaging before it’s created. Rejecting chemical recycling keeps attention focused on solutions that genuinely reduce waste instead of prolonging the status quo.

That’s what makes Maine’s approach so significant. Rather than asking individuals to solve the waste crisis one recycling bin at a time, the state is redesigning the systems that create waste. But the work is not done. Maine can build on this progress. How? Through greater prevention, reuse, and recycling policies. Rather than continually expanding disposal capacity at state-owned landfills, Maine can implement a Pay As You Throw program and continue phasing out needless single-use plastics.

As communities across the country search for ways to reduce pollution, conserve resources, and build healthier economies, Maine is showing that a Zero Waste future is built through thoughtful, connected policies.