Maine DEP postpones ban on plastic bags

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has announced that it is delaying its plans to ban single-use plastic carryout bags that had been scheduled to go into effect Jan. 15, 2021 and a polystyrene (PS) foam disposable foodservice container ban that had been scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2021. The DEP reports that it is delaying enforcement on these bans to July 1, 2021.

The DEP had initially announced its ban of single-use plastic carryout bags April 22. According to a news release from the Maine DEP, the delay comes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has disrupted traditional food marketing and packaging supplies. Demand for groceries, ‘curbside pickup,’ and takeout food has increased, while the demand for paper bags and thicker reusable plastic bags has also increased resulting in substantially less supply of reusable plastic bags and paper bags—the substitutes allowed for single-use plastic carryout bags under the bag law,” the DEP states on its website.

Due to concerns over possible virus transmission, the DEP says retailers have also asked customers not to bring reusable bags from home. The DEP reports that COVID-19 safety protocols have also led to greater caution with handling of food and beverages and increased demand for disposable foodservice containers.

“Schools, homeless shelters and other groups are providing more food in disposable packaging than before the pandemic. Therefore, the department has decided to exercise its enforcement discretion to not enforce both the single-use plastic carryout bag ban and the polystyrene foam disposable foodservice container ban until July 1, 2021,” the DEP states. “The delay in enforcement of these bans is not intended to downplay the importance of eliminating single-use plastic carryout bags and polystyrene foam disposable foodservice containers from the waste stream but rather to address current concerns related to impacts of the pandemic. The department strongly encourages those that use single-use plastic carryout bags and polystyrene foam disposable foodservice containers to use this additional time to focus on procuring alternatives to these products and on depleting current stocks of these products before the July 1, 2021, enforcement date.”