Maine Bill Changes Effective Date of Intentionally Added PFAS Bans
Cookware and cosmetics with intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—along with a number of other categories of products with intentionally added PFAS—will be banned in the state of Maine effective January 1, 2026, following the passage of LD 1537 (“An Act to Amend the Laws Relating to the Prevention of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Pollution”) on April 16, 2024. Prior to the enactment of this law, Maine banned carpets, rugs, and fabric treatments with intentionally added PFAS, while a prohibition was set to extend to any “product” containing intentionally added PFAS as of January 1, 2030.
Under the latest law, in addition to cookware and cosmetics, dental floss, juvenile products, menstruation products, textile articles (with some exceptions), ski wax, and upholstered furniture with intentionally added PFAS will be banned from sale, offer for sale, and distribution in Maine as of 2026. Artificial turf and certain outdoor apparel with intentionally added PFAS will be banned effective January 1, 2029. Aside from some selected products, like cooling and heating equipment and refrigerants with intentionally added PFAS, which will not be banned until 2040, the sale and distribution of all other products containing intentionally added PFAS will now be banned in Maine as of 2032, rather than 2030.
The latest amendment to the Maine law also eliminated a reporting requirement for all products containing intentionally added PFAS, which was set to take effect in 2025 (following an amendment that delayed the requirement from 2023). Now, only products that contain intentionally added PFAS that has been designated by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as a “currently unavoidable use” must be notified to the state. For products entailing currently unavoidable uses of PFAS, restrictions would begin five years from when the designation takes effect, or five years from when the otherwise applicable ban enters into force, whichever occurs later. (More information on Maine’s requirements regarding PFAS in products can be found on DEP's website.)
Restrictions on PFAS in food packaging are governed by Maine’s Toxics in Packaging law, M.R.S. 32 §§ 1731-1738, which authorized Maine’s DEP to issue a rule prohibiting the sale of food packaging containing intentionally added PFAS, provided DEP first determined that safer alternatives were available. LD 1537 does not impact the existing ban on PFAS in food packaging. (For more information on that law, see the Packaginglaw.com article, Maine DEP Releases Draft Rule Regarding Food Packaging Containing PFAS and Phthalates.)