California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday sued oil giant Exxon Mobil, accusing the company of exaggerating its recycling promises and waging a “decades-long campaign of deception” that contributed to the plastic pollution crisis.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that ExxonMobil’s false belief that single-use plastics can be recycled makes people more likely to buy them. Bonta said the company is a major manufacturer of key components used to make single-use plastics. The lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount, but Bonta estimated it could be in the “billions of dollars.”
Plastic pollution is “fueled by the recycling myth, and ExxonMobil is a leader in perpetuating that myth,” Bonta said in an interview.
ExxonMobil fired back, arguing that California officials have known for decades that their recycling system is ineffective. “Instead of taking action, the state government is now trying to blame others,” the company said in a statement. “Instead of suing, the state government could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”
The case marks a new chapter in the legal battle against oil and gas companies over climate and environmental issues. More than 20 state and local governments, including California, are suing the companies for their role in the climate crisis, accusing them of misleading the public in pursuit of profits. The cases have not yet gone to trial.
Environmental groups hailed Monday’s lawsuit as breaking new ground in government actions against companies accused of fraud related to plastic recycling. The case comes after more than two years of investigation that included subpoenas to Exxon Mobil and industry groups.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said the lawsuit was “the most significant legal action yet in the global fight against plastic pollution.”
Four other environmental groups — the Sierra Club, Surfriders Foundation, Heal the Bay and San Francisco Baykeeper — also announced lawsuits Monday against ExxonMobil, accusing it of violating state nuisance and unfair competition laws.
Both lawsuits allege that ExxonMobil promoted a “chasing arrow” symbol widely used on plastic products to mislead buyers into believing that bottles and other products would be recycled if properly disposed of. But only about 5% of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled, according to Bonta’s office, citing estimates from advocacy group Beyond Plastics that examined the 2021 data.
The attorneys general said their investigation uncovered information about misleading claims about ExxonMobil’s “advanced recycling” program, which claims to transform used plastics into new products.
The lawsuit alleges that most of the waste from the company’s advanced recycling program is turned into fuel and sold at inflated prices in new products that contain little or no actual recycled material. Bonta’s office called the advanced recycling program a “publicity stunt.”
Exxon said Monday that its advanced recycling program has been effective, turning more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into “usable raw materials” and keeping it out of landfills.
The lawsuit said plastic can break down in the environment into “microplastics” that can contaminate drinking water and soil. Researchers have found evidence of microplastics in the human body. It called for the creation of a “removal fund” and other penalties.
Even if there is evidence that plastic makers “haven’t been upfront” about recycling challenges, Bonta’s lawsuit would face an “uphill battle” because of vague pollution laws, said Bruce Huber, a professor of environmental and energy law at the Notre Dame Law School. “It may be hard for the court to grant relief to California without opening a Pandora’s box of other similar lawsuits,” Huber said.
The Center for Climate Integrity concluded in a report earlier this year titled “The Plastic Recycling Scam” that fossil fuel companies and other petrochemical companies have used the “false promises” of recycling to “exponentially increase the production of virgin plastic over the past 60 years.” Plastic is made from fossil fuels.
The report says plastic recycling is failing due to technical and economic limitations, and that even where recycling is technically possible, it is more costly than producing new plastic and therefore not economically viable.
Jane Patton, campaigns manager at the International Environmental Law Center, said she expects other cities and states to file lawsuits similar to those in California, noting that many state and local lawsuits over climate change are based on similar allegations of deception. “We’re seeing a shift in the tide toward holding companies accountable through the courts for environmental damage,” she said in an interview.
Bonta said concerns about the effectiveness of recycling could lead to an increased emphasis on reusing items like water bottles and shopping bags. “I think people need to be aware of the limitations of recycling and the fact that things they thought they’d been recycling for years weren’t actually being recycled,” he said.
