New rules designed to reduce the public cost to dispose of growing mounds of product packaging were adopted by a state board Thursday, despite opposition from business groups that say the regulations will hurt Maine companies and raise consumer prices.

The rules, drafted under landmark legislation passed in 2021, will require companies to reimburse municipalities for disposal costs related to hard-to-recycle packaging and to invest in recycling infrastructure statewide.

The Board of Environmental Protection voted 4-1 in favor of the rules, which were drafted by staff members of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Board Chair Susan Lessard, who is Bucksport’s town manager, advised supporters to refrain from telling people that L.D. 1541 will save taxpayers money.

It will help reduce property taxes, she said, but companies likely will pass the resulting increase in their waste disposal costs on to consumers.

“The costs will go somewhere,” said Lessard, who provided the sole vote against the rules.

Barbara Vickery, a member of the governor-appointed board, countered that while property owners don’t have a choice in paying taxes, the law will give consumers the power to push Maine businesses to reduce their packaging.

“I do as a consumer have a choice over the products I buy,” Vickery said.

Board members said unclear aspects of the rules would be addressed before the law takes effect in 2027, reimbursing municipalities for packaging disposal costs in 2026.

However, several participants in Thursday’s meeting predicted that if the rules were adopted now, alternative legislation would be submitted soon to address various problems outlined by opponents in recent months.

Cathy Breen, a former legislator who is spokesperson for Maine Conservation Voters, spoke in favor of the rules and advised the board to “not let perfection be the enemy of the good.”

“Pass the rules, get the program going and see what happens the next (legislative) session,” she said.

On Monday, business groups sent a letter to Gov. Janet Mills asking her to pause action on the proposed rules so they could be aligned with so-called extended producer responsibility programs in other states that have clear cost controls and additional flexibility for producers.

While Maine was the first state to pass legislation extending producer responsibility for packaging, Minnesota, Colorado, Oregon and California have all since passed and implemented their own laws.

In simple terms, extended producer responsibility programs require companies that produce packaging to pay the cost of disposing of or recycling packaging materials that have overwhelmed local waste handling facilities.

“This practical solution will boost recycling rates and shift costs away from taxpayers onto the corporations that produce and profit from the huge volume of cardboard and plastic packaging that’s driving up waste management costs for Maine municipalities,” said Vanessa Berry of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Patrick Woodcock, head of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said his organization still has significant concerns but will work to improve the rules.

“We look forward to working in a bipartisan manner to improve the program by providing cost predictability for producers who will be paying for the program,” he said.

The board also heard comment Thursday from several business and industry representatives, who said the rules were too complex, inconsistent and unclear to be workable as proposed.

Some said they support the law in concept but pointed to aspects of the rules that need fixing. They noted that trash disposal and recycling programs vary widely across Maine, making it  difficult to apply the rules as written.

Nate Cloutier, spokesman for HospitalityMaine, said the rules would be especially challenging for restaurant owners, who already have slim profit margins and little control over packaging used by their suppliers.

A spokesperson for Idexx Laboratories, a multinational company based in Westbrook that produces about 4,000 products, each with 6-10 types of packaging, said the rules lack the certainty companies need to know they will be able to comply with the law.

Under the law, companies that produce packaging materials must pay into a fund managed by a third-party stewardship organization contracted by the DEP. Charges would be based on company size, packaging type and the weight of packaging that companies produce.

The rules provide descriptions of packaging materials, methods for determining municipal reimbursement and producer fees, criteria for investing in infrastructure and public education, and details about alternative collection programs.