ExxonMobil has misled consumers for years by perpetuating a \u201cmyth\u201d about plastic recycling, according to a new lawsuit filed by the state of California. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
ExxonMobil is the world\u2019s leading producer of single-use plastics that become waste, according to the state attorney general\u2019s office. To encourage people to buy products made with single-use plastics, the suit alleges, ExxonMobil \u201cdeceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThey clearly knew this wasn\u2019t possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Plastic is quite difficult to reuse, which is why very little of it is ever recycled. Promoting recycling as a cure-all for plastic waste can actually lead to more of it becoming trash, experts warn<\/a>. Now, the state of California wants to hold industry accountable for the plastic pollution that has accumulated in the environment, animals, and even people\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn\u2019t possible,\u201d California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The AG\u2019s office launched an investigation<\/a> into the petrochemical industry\u2019s role in creating a plastic \u201cpollution crisis\u201d in 2022. It says it unearthed new documents over the past two years that led the state to file suit this week. The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil has violated state public nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertisement, and unfair competition laws through misleading marketing about recycling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The state is suing for civil penalties and disgorgement, which would force the company to turn over any profits it gained illegally. California also wants to set up an abatement fund and injunctive relief to stop the company from promoting plastics as recyclable the way that it has for years. The attorney general\u2019s office points to a 12-page ad<\/a> in Time<\/em> magazine in 1989 on \u201cthe urgent need to recycle\u201d as one example of the company\u2019s \u201ccampaign of deception.\u201d \u201cAmericans have entered an era in which landfilling will no longer be the primary method of garbage disposal,\u201d the ad says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n By 2015, less than 10 percent of plastic waste had ever been recycled<\/a>. Nearly 80 percent of the 6,300\u00a0million metric tons of plastic waste that had been created around the world ended up in landfills or littering the environment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even when plastic is rehashed, it\u2019s typically \u201cdowncycled\u201d because the quality of the material deteriorates with each use. Plastic bottles are turned into fibers used in carpeting instead of new plastic bottles, for example. And gadgets made with recycled plastic typically have to be reinforced<\/a> with fresh plastic. It\u2019s often just cheaper for a company<\/a> to use new plastic rather than recycled materials. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Newer claims from industry about \u201cadvanced\u201d or chemical recycling<\/a> are just as flawed, the attorney general claims, since the majority of plastic waste that goes through that process becomes fuel. The state also claims that plastics produced using ExxonMobil\u2019s \u201cadvanced recycling\u201d\u00a0technology contain such little amounts of used material that \u201cthey are effectively virgin plastics.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n ExxonMobil shifted the blame to California in an emailed response to The Verge<\/em>. \u201cFor decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn\u2019t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of the selling points for plastic is that it\u2019s lightweight and easy to transport \u2014 a characteristic that also makes it easier for plastics to drift into the environment. Once it\u2019s there, it breaks down into tiny particles called microplastics that have flooded the world\u2019s oceans<\/a> and have been found in everything from seafood<\/a> to baby poop<\/a>. Around 21 million pounds of plastic garbage has been collected from California\u2019s beaches and waterways since 1985, according to Bonta\u2019s office. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Plastics are made from fossil fuels and are responsible for 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> \u2014 more than the climate pollution from global shipping<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhile greenwashing certainly isn\u2019t new, the fossil fuel industry in particular has frequently downplayed the impacts that their sector has on climate change,\u201d Cornell University climate and environment legal scholar\u00a0Leehi Yona said in an emailed statement. \u201cIn my view, this latest lawsuit builds on the sustained efforts of many governments to hold fossil fuel companies accountable to the myriad ways they have\u00a0misled<\/a>\u00a0the public on the risks of their products.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n