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Nichols, who is featured in Humes' book, played a major role in the successful 2021 effort to expand Maine's "extended producer responsibility" (EPR) laws to cover packaging — making it the first state in the country to do so, thereby shifting the financial burden. for recycling to businesses in local communities.
As reported by trade publication Packaging World (https://www.packworld.com/news/article/22889966/firstinnation-maine-epr-for-packaging-law-close-to-reality), final regulations are emerging this month. year and are sorely needed, given the strained recycling budgets of many Maine municipalities (including our budget-strapped city):
Many Maine communities have suspended or reduced their recycling programs due to limited options and rising costs of managing these materials, instead sending them to landfills. As landfills across the state approach capacity, this temporary solution creates another costly problem: the expansion of existing landfills.
During our conversation, Nichols explained that corporations aren't always the enemy, highlighting the leadership of one of Maine's largest craft beer producers, Allagash Brewing Company. Read Allagash's page extolling the virtues of EPR (https://www.allagash.com/discover/sustainability/the-benefits-of-extended-producer-responsibility/).
Every city needs a “Margin” for change
I like how this section of Humes' book on Nichols echoes what Jigar Shah, who leads the Biden administration's clean energy loan program, called for an army of local actors and changemakers (https://revkin.substack.com/i/79691901/the-new-climate-activism-is-local) willing to dedicate time to ensure their communities can access billions of federal assets:
Nichols worked on this topic for eight years, explaining that his idea was not a tax on corporations, as they would surely claim, but a long-overdue bill, to be recouped after their mess. She delivered her speech, with ample data to back it up, to city council after city council, business to business, and at countless rubber chicken lunches and dinners with volunteer groups and civic organizations. . Nichols' environmental organization is respected but small, so she recruited an army of community volunteers across the state to build support and publicize her recycling transformation locally. She calls this force her /"Margins/" – after the name of her first volunteer in a previous environmental campaign. She defines a Margin as someone who is already an environmental advocate, but needs help to act effectively. The Marges have become a force to be reckoned with in Maine, Nichols' not-so-secret weapon.
Similar laws are in the works in many other states, and Nichols' former employer, the Maine Natural Resources Council, has a fact sheet of 10 tips (https://www.nrcm.org/programs/sustainability/ epr-for-packaging/epr-packaging-advocacy-resources/epr-packaging-top-10-tips-lessons-learned/) available to anyone else hoping to pave the way for a more rational and efficient system of reduction and recycling packaging.
Humes' book is full of remarkable examples of communities – without a red or blue divide – and businesses finding ways to reduce waste of all kinds – from trash to energy to greenhouse gas emissions . Here are some examples from his website, edwardhumes.com (https://www.edwardhumes.com/#new-page-1-section):
Here is an introductory video to Clynk's (https://www.clynk.com/) innovative approach to beverage container redemption:
Related Sustain What articles and episodes:
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