In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, California is suing ExxonMobil for its “decades-long fraud” of deceiving the public about plastic recycling. ExxonMobil, the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymers, and other fossil fuel and petrochemical companies are being accused of promoting recycling as a solution to plastic waste management despite internal knowledge that it is not a viable solution.
The lawsuit, which was filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, is just one of several lawsuits from attorneys general and local and tribal governments against the fossil fuel industry.
“The plastics industry, through its deceptive public messaging regarding plastic recycling, is responsible for one of the most devastating global environmental crises of our time: The plastic waste and pollution crisis,” the lawsuit said. “Even as it ramped up plastic production and deceptively promoted recycling as
a cure-all for plastic waste, ExxonMobil knew that the consequent amount of plastic waste would continue to rise, inevitably leading to ever-increasing plastic pollution of the environment, harming California’s iconic coastlines, waterways, wildlife, and residents.”
According to a report from the Center for Climate Integrity release in February, new and existing research “shows how Big Oil and the plastics industry have deceptively promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste.” The report, “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling,” provided the foundation for California to take legal efforts to hold fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies accountable for plastics deception. The evidence in the report includes:
- Petrochemical companies, including oil majors such as ExxonMobil, have long known that, in the words of one 1980s industry report, “recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of.”
- Discussing the industry’s commitment to plastic recycling demonstration projects, an Exxon employee told staffers at the American Plastics Council in 1994, “we are committed to the activities, but not committed to the results.”
“ExxonMobil is now facing long-overdue legal accountability for its role in causing and lying about the two greatest environmental catastrophes facing humanity: the climate crisis and the plastic waste crisis. Just as Exxon knew and lied about how its fossil fuel products cause climate change, the polluter has also known and lied for decades about the reality that its plastic products could never be recycled at scale,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said. “From climate to plastics, Exxon’s entire business model is based on lying to the public about the harms its products cause. We applaud Attorney General Bonta for taking this historic action to hold Exxon accountable for the fraud of plastic recycling, and we hope to see more officials follow suit.”
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