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California Sues Exxon Over Plastics Pollution and Recycling ‘Myth’
The lawsuit, seeking ‘multiple billions of dollars,’ opens a new front in the legal battles with oil and gas companies over climate and environmental issues.
transcript
California Sues Exxon Mobil Over Plastics Pollution ‘Deception’
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, said that Exxon Mobil has contributed greatly to global pollution by deceiving the public into believing that single-use plastics would be recycled if disposed of properly.
The truth here is that this myth of recycling, this decades-long campaign of deception, has led to and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis. And while plastics are not actually being recycled, the one thing that Exxon Mobil does recycle is its lies, its deception. It takes many forms, from Time magazine advertorials, to “chasing arrow” deception, to today’s deception of advanced recycling. It’s the same lie recycled over and over that these materials are recyclable and being recycled, and they’re just not. Consumers have been told and been pointed at as the problem when it comes to plastics, plastic pollution. The reason that we’re seeing the straw on the turtle’s nose or the great garbage patch is because people threw their stuff away and didn’t recycle. That’s not true — it doesn’t matter what bin you put it in. If you put it in the blue bin or the gray bin, it’s going to end up in the same place: in the environment, in the incinerator or in the landfill.
The attorney general of California, Rob Bonta, sued Exxon Mobil on Monday alleging that the oil giant carried out a “decades-long campaign of deception” that overhyped the promise of recycling and spawned a plastic pollution crisis.
The lawsuit, filed in superior court in San Francisco, argued that people were more likely to buy single-use plastics because of a false belief, promoted by Exxon Mobil, that they would be recycled. Mr. Bonta said the company is a leading producer of a key component used to make single-use plastics. The suit seeks unspecified damages that Mr. Bonta estimated would amount of “multiple billions of dollars.”
In an interview, Mr. Bonta said plastic pollution was “fueled by the myth of recycling, and the leader among them in perpetuating that myth is Exxon Mobil.”
Exxon Mobil responded sharply, saying California officials knew for decades that their recycling system was ineffective. “They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others,” the company said in a statement. “Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”
The case opens a new front in the legal battles against oil and gas companies over climate and environmental issues. More than two dozen state and local governments, including California, have sued companies for their role in the climate crisis, making claims that the companies deceived the public in a quest for profit. None have gone trial yet.
Several environmental groups hailed Monday’s suit as breaking new ground for government action against a company over alleged deception related to plastic recycling. It came after a more than two-year investigation that included subpoenas to Exxon Mobil and industry groups.
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