An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Commingling of Beverage
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1721
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: HEPLER
Amends: 38 MRSA §3106, 38 MRSA §3107

Legislative Document
No. 1721
H.P. 1148
House of Representatives, April 17, 2025
An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Commingling of Beverage 
Containers
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative HEPLER of Woolwich.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BELL of Yarmouth, BRIDGEO of Augusta, CAMPBELL of 
Orrington, WOODSOME of Waterboro.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §3106, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2023, c. 482, §15 and affected 
by §43, is further amended to read:
6.  Obligation to preserve container value.  Notwithstanding subsection 8‑A, a 
commingling group or its agent may refuse to accept, or pay the refund value and handling 
costs to a dealer, redemption center or other person for, a beverage container that has been 
sorted in a manner that is inconsistent with an approved commingling agreement or a 
cooperative plan approved in accordance with section 3107, subsection 3-B, paragraph C 
or processed by a reverse vending machine or account-based bulk processing program in a 
way that has, for a nonrefillable beverage container, reduced the recycling value of the 
container material below current market value when compared to material that is 
unprocessed and sorted in an approved manner or, for a refillable beverage container, has 
damaged the container in a manner that prevents its reuse unless the dealer or redemption 
center pays the difference in material recycling value or the value of the refillable container 
to the commingling group.  Sorting or processing that prevents the recycling of material or 
the reuse of refillable containers is not permitted.  This subsection may not be interpreted 
to prohibit a written processing agreement between a commingling group and a dealer or 
redemption center and does not relieve a commingling group of its obligation under 
subsection 8‑A to accept empty, unbroken and reasonably clean beverage containers.  
Beginning July 15, 2025, the cooperative, on behalf of its member commingling groups, 
shall negotiate agreements with dealers and redemption centers regarding processing 
payments for each beverage container material type. The recycling value of a beverage 
container includes but is not limited to commodity, transportation and proportional system 
cost savings. The department shall adopt rules to establish the recycling value of beverage 
containers under this subsection and the rules may authorize the use of a 3rd-party vendor 
to determine if a beverage container has been processed by a reverse vending machine or 
account-based bulk processing program in a manner that, for a nonrefillable beverage 
container, has reduced the recycling value below current market value or, for a refillable 
beverage container, has damaged the container in a manner that prevents its reuse.  The 
rules must outline the method of allocating among the parties involved the payment for 
3rd-party vendor costs.
Sec. 2.  38 MRSA §3107, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2023, c. 482, §22, is further 
amended to read:
1.  Commingling requirement.  If initiators of deposit enter into a commingling 
agreement pursuant to this section, commingling of beverage containers must be by all 
containers of like deposit value, product group, material and size. Initiators of deposit may 
not require dealers or redemption centers to further sort containers that belong to the 
commingling group. An initiator of deposit required pursuant to section 3106, subsection 
or 8‑A to pick up beverage containers subject to a commingling agreement also shall pick 
up all other beverage containers subject to the same agreement.  The initiator of deposit 
may not require beverage containers that are subject to a commingling agreement to be 
sorted separately by a dealer or redemption center. This subsection does not prevent dealers 
or redemption centers from further commingling beverage containers, subject to section 
3106, subsection 6.
Sec. 3.  38 MRSA §3107, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 166, §14, is amended 
to read:
2.  Commingling of like materials.  For purposes of this section, containers are 
considered to be of like materials if made up of one of the following:
A.  Plastic;
B.  Aluminum;
C.  Metal other than aluminum; and
D.  Glass. Clear flint glass;
E.  Amber-brown glass;
F.  Green-blue glass;
G.  Clear polyethylene terephthalate;
H.  Colored polyethylene terephthalate;
I.  Clear high-density polyethylene;
J.  Colored high-density polyethylene; or
K.  Other plastic, glass or other materials that in the department's discretion are 
necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
Sec. 4.  38 MRSA §3107, sub-§3-B, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 482, §26, is 
amended by amending subparagraph (1) to read:
(1)  The method by which the program will facilitate the transition from beverage 
container sorting at redemption centers by brand to sorting by material type and, 
for redemption centers that manually sort containers, by size and deposit value 
within each material type.  The program may facilitate the negotiation of 
agreements with redemption centers to gather brand data through use of reverse 
vending machines, account-based bulk processing programs or similar technology 
as long as the cost of such data collection is paid by the program;
SUMMARY
This bill amends the laws governing the commingling of beverage containers in several 
ways.
1.  It amends the list of materials that are considered of like materials for the purposes 
of beverage container commingling.  
2.  It makes changes to the provision of law regarding the obligation of dealers and 
redemption centers to preserve the value of beverage containers.  The changes include 
providing that a commingling group may refuse to accept, or pay the refund value and 
handling costs for, a beverage container that has been sorted in a manner that is inconsistent 
with an approved commingling agreement or an approved cooperative plan; and removing 
the authority for a commingling group to refuse beverage containers that have been 
processed by a reverse vending machine or account-based bulk processing program.
3.  It prohibits initiators of deposit from requiring dealers or redemption centers from 
sorting containers that belong to the commingling group beyond that required in current 
law.