Maine’s clean and healthy environment strengthens the state’s economy and is central to our way of life. Holding polluting corporations accountable through systemic changes in local, state, and federal policies is the key to creating a more healthy, prosperous, sustainable future for us all.
NRCM’s Sustainable Maine program takes a practical, collaborative approach to solving environmental problems faced by Maine people and communities, particularly with how to better prevent and manage waste. We want to make doing the right thing for people and the environment the easy, clear choice for individuals and businesses.
Our vision of sustainability in Maine is ensuring a healthy future for life on Earth. Unfortunately, polluting corporations continue to ignore what is right for the environment at the expense of people’s health. Instead, they spend big money to try to convince people that it’s an individual’s responsibility to act, not theirs. But we are onto them.
The fossil fuel industry knows our clean energy transition is underway, so to keep their profits flowing, they are ramping up production of single-use plastics. We cannot allow this to happen. At every stage of the life cycle for plastics — from production to disposal — there are significant human health impacts, and they disproportionately affect economically and socially disadvantaged people.
Many of us feel guilty that we still rely on gasoline-powered cars, and we can’t seem to avoid wasteful packaging despite our best efforts—but it’s not our fault as individuals. In the State House, in schools, and in our communities, NRCM works with local businesses, municipalities, and Maine people to galvanize support for solutions that require corporations be a part of solving the problem and make it easier to reduce waste and pollution.
Learn more about our Sustainable Maine program priorities and how you can help on the pages below.

Waste Not, Want Not
91. That’s the number of times the Empire State Building could have been filled from top to bottom with the amount of food wasted in the United States in 2010. And the problem gets worse every year. United States Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, representing Maine’s First Congressional District, recently unveiled and introduced legislation to tackle this Read More

How We Can Divert Food from Landfills to Cupboards, Food Banks
By Christopher Burns, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Nothing takes up more space in landfills than food. This isn’t just table scraps and coffee grounds. It’s also whole fruits and vegetables and even canned food, not all of which is unfit to eat. Americans sent a staggering 35 million tons of food to Read More

Beyond Our Borders
I’d like to cap off 2015 with a short note about a big topic: our place in the international community.

York Prepares for Start of Plastic Bag Ban
Chamber moves to help businesses By Deborah McDermott Seacoast Online news story YORK, Maine — Now that the first-in-the-state ordinance banning single-use plastic bags has been approved, the town’s business leaders, citizens and officials are shifting gears and preparing for the March 1 effective date. Residents last week approved the ordinance by a vote of Read More

Stop Wasting Food! Have Your Cake, and Eat It, Too.
As a micro-scale farmer who has put a lot of effort into every vegetable, egg and pork chop I sell, I’ve often thought it an unfortunate side effect of life in the land of plenty that most of us don’t really worry about throwing away food. But we need to start. Food waste may not Read More

York Enacts Plastic Bag Ban
By Tom Porter MPBN news story YORK, Maine — By a narrow margin, voters here have chosen to prohibit stores from using plastic shopping bags. This makes the southern Maine community the first in the state to introduce such a moratorium. Earlier this year Portland introduced a 5-cent fee for most plastic bags issued by Read More

Portland on Track to Be a “Top Tier” Sustainable City
New Report Profiles the People and Organizations Making It Happen NRCM news release Portland, ME—Portland is making great strides in promoting local foods, minimizing waste, using clean energy efficiently, connecting people with nature, and incorporating environmental sustainability into daily life. According to a new report released today by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), Read More

Plastic Bag Bans and Fees Catching on in Maine
Portland’s ordinance went into effect on April 15, and other communities are poised to follow. By Mary Pols, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story In the six months since Portland passed an ordinance calling for most food retailers to charge a nickel for each single-use plastic or paper bag, reusable bags have gotten extremely Read More

New Program Will Let Maine Residents Drop Off Unused Paint at Many Retailers for Free
Retail prices for paint will increase slightly to pay for the Maine Paint Stewardship Program. By Dennis Hoey, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story Maine has joined seven other states and the District of Columbia in a national effort that will allow people to dispose of their unused paint at retail locations around the Read More