Industry-funded group targets juice-box ban

AUGUSTA — A trade organization representing makers of aseptic packaging is trying to develop a grassroots campaign to overturn a ban on Maine sales of the single-serving beverage containers.

The newly formed Maine Citizens for Environmental Studies is spending an estimated $12,000 or more to run full-page ads in several newspapers urging Mainers to force legislators who outlawed the containers to reconsider the decision. The organization is financed by the Aseptic Packaging Council, a trade organization representing makers of the so-called “juice-boxes” or “brick packs.”

The Legislature outlawed the sale of juice, soy milk and other non-dairy drinks in the popular soft-sided little boxes when it passed sweeping solid-waste legislation in 1989. Lobbyists for the industry tried to overturn that first-in-the-nation ban during this year’s legislative session, but lawmakers refused to concede. The containers were removed from the shelves of Maine grocery stores at the beginning of this month.

Manufacturers contend that the boxes, which contain layers of plastic, paper and aluminum, can be recycled.

Maine Citizens for Environmental Studies hopes to refocus the issue by arguing that the Legislature did not spend enough time weighing all the evidence before passing the ban. The group hopes that widespread public support for a repeal will carry more weight with legislators than lobbyists were able to muster.

“Legislators respond far quicker and far more positively when they hear from a constituent rather than some lobbyists,” said Tony Payne, a Portland advertising and public relations expert hired by the council to help organize the drive.

But Robert Howe, a lobbyist and former legislator, said public support alone would not convince the Legislature to repeal the ban. The industry must prove to the Legislature that the technology, financial resources and markets exist to recycle juice boxes, he said.