California sues ExxonMobil for ‘deceiving the public’ about plastic recycling - Conservation news

California is suing oil and gas giant ExxonMobil for allegedly lying to the public about the promise of plastic recycling, the state’s attorney general announced on Sept 22.

“For 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’t possible,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said in a statement that the real blame lies with the state of California for not addressing the issue sooner. “They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others,” the spokesperson said.

ExxonMobil is the world’s largest producer of polymers used to make single-use plastic. But Bonta’s statement notes that as the public became concerned about plastic washing up on beaches and choking sea life, ExxonMobbil shifted the responsibility for pollution onto consumers. The company promoted recycling over reducing plastic consumption, the statement added, even placing a 1989 editorial-style advertisement in Time magazine titled “The Urgent Need to Recycle.”

Bonta alleges that ExxonMobbil knowingly began misleading the public even before that ad, starting in the 1970s when it adopted and promoted the “chasing arrows” symbol on single-use plastics. The public was led to believe anything with that symbol can and will be recycled.

In fact, the global plastic recycling rate is just 9%; in the U.S. it’s 5%. Roughly 79% of plastic waste ends up in a landfill or as pollution in nature. Roughly 12% of plastic is incinerated, using so-called “chemical recycling” or “advanced recycling,” technology. It’s a misleading term, Bonta said, because roughly 92% of plastic that passes through advanced recycling facilities don’t become recycled plastic; rather they’re burned as fuel. The plastic that is produced contains very little recycled plastic, but is still marketed as part of a circular economy and sold at a premium.

“ExxonMobil’s ‘advanced recycling’ program is nothing more than a public relations stunt meant to encourage the public to keep purchasing single-use plastics that are fueling the plastics pollution crisis,” Bonta said in his statement.

The United Nations estimates that plastic could account for 19% of the global carbon budget by the end of this decade. Microplastics have been found everywhere scientists have looked for them, including in newborn babies.

It’s unclear how far California will get with the lawsuit. “The state’s primary claim relies on public nuisance, a notoriously murky area of law,” Bruce Huber, a Notre Dame Law School professor, told Reuters.

But environmental groups are applauding the move from California.

“Attorney General Bonta is leading the way to corporate accountability and a cleaner and healthier world. This lawsuit will set an invaluable precedent for others to follow,” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, said in a statement.

Banner image: Egrets at a landfill by Yogi Eka Sahputra/Mongabay Indonesia.