Want to recycle better? Get manufacturers involved.

Who should pay to recycle all that plastic, paper, and other packaging that come into homes, from milk bottles to those seemingly impenetrable plastic wrappers surrounding electronic gadgets?

The companies selling products, not consumers, should bear that responsibility, says a law just enacted in Maine. That shift in thought, if it continues to spread more widely, could go a long way toward saving struggling local recycling programs, and result in less packaging that is more easily recycled and the reduction of greenhouse gases.

The Maine law sets up a nonprofit...