Township Valley
New Maine law to get manufacturers, retailers using less packaging – Portland Press Herald
What the law does is require manufacturers and large retailers to pay for the recycling of their packaging. The less packaging they produce, and the more readily and easily it is to recycle what they do produce, the less the companies will pay to the state to cover the costs of that recycling. The monies the state collects from the program are to be passed down to the cities and towns to defray the local recycling program costs.
Maine Will Make Companies Pay for Recycling. Here’s How It Works. – The New York Times
In Maine, packaging products covered by the law make up as much as 40 percent of the waste stream.
In both states, one important benefit of the program is that it will make recycling more uniform statewide. Today, recycling is a patchwork, with variations between cities about what can be thrown in the recycling bin.
These programs exist on a spectrum from producer-run and producer-controlled, to government-run. In Maine, the government is taking the lead, having the final say on how the program will be run, including setting the fees. In Oregon, the producer responsibility organization is expected to involve manufacturers to a larger degree, including them on an advisory council.
In another key difference, Maine is also requiring producers to cover 100 percent of its municipalities’ recycling costs. Oregon, by contrast, will require producers to cover around 28 percent of the costs of recycling, with municipalities continuing to cover the rest.
Hitting Wave
From the very windy conditions of today.
Taken on Friday September 3, 2010 at Moose River Plains.End Remote Work 💻
As August fades away to September, the remote work program comes to an end in my office after Labor Day Weekend and it’s back to working downtown five days a week.
In some ways I’ll miss “phoning it in” (lol, but often working hard) from the Adirondacks and Green Mountains, there were many a good day working from Spectulator – both the library, the town park and the beach. Sometimes working from the hammock or the screen tent using my phone or laptop over the hot spot with a cold beer in the opposite hand. Those days happened, nobody knows if you are a dog on the internet.
It was kind of a racket during the pandemic, kind of fun and kind of crazy making sure I always had good cell service and batteries kept charged. I took remote work to the extremes one summer week last year, literally phoning it in from the wilderness in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. But it wasn’t like I was just goofing off – that week I actually wrote two large reports for work using my work laptop. Working remotely, I always make it a priority to be very responsive and provide the best service to clients.
Then there was that week I started at Mason Lake, heading up to Horseshoe Lake and the Bog River Flow, Primary Night 2020. Done remotely from camp, next to a big ol fire. Working 9-5 the day after primary night and then hiking Lows Ledge after work.
What an adventure that year and a half of the pandemic was for me. But it’s back to work downtown full time once Labor Day has passed, no more phoning it in. I guess it’s good for the local businesses and the transit authority, much like car crashes are good business for hospitals and television reporters.
And I kind of like keeping work and pleasure separate – the Adirondacks will go back to being vacation land, none of this focusing on work 9-5 then trying to squeeze in some fun and sleep and ordinary camp duties before the next day of work.
Starting Out on Cedar River Flow
