According to the new California lawsuit, ExxonMobil has known for decades that recycling alone would not stem the flow of plastic waste. Despite this knowledge, the company has actively promoted recycling as a viable solution to plastic pollution.
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Mark Humphrey/AP
California has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging the company spent decades misleading the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.
The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil The company has known for decades that recycling plastics is technically and economically challenging and will not help stem the massive volume of plastic waste that ends up in the environment. Despite this knowledge, the company has promoted recycling as a viable option, according to the complaint.
“For decades, ExxonMobil deceived the public into believing that recycling plastic could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew that was not possible,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Monday.
By misleading the public, ExxonMobil allegedly encouraged the excessive use of plastic, which is produced from fossil fuels. At a press conference Monday, Bonta said California spends more than $1 billion a year to deal with its plastic waste problem.
The case filed by the California Attorney General’s Office quoted NPR report which revealed that the plastics industry was encouraging recycling even though its leaders had long known that the activity would probably never be effective on a large scale.
In a statement to NPR, ExxonMobil spokeswoman Lauren Kight responded, “Advanced recycling works. To date, we have transformed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into usable raw materials, keeping it out of landfills.” California processes more than 5 million tons, or 10 billion pounds, of plastic each year.
As part of the complaint, Bonta’s office is calling for the creation of an Exxon-funded “reduction” fund that could be used to address ongoing plastic pollution problems by supporting efforts such as cleanups or developing new ways to break down plastics. Bonta also suggested the fund could produce a “reeducation” campaign to help consumers understand what plastics are and, just as importantly, which ones are not recyclable.
Mark James, an environmental law expert at Vermont Law and Graduate School, said the complaint also calls for a substantial change in ExxonMobil’s communications. The complaint, he said, seeks “an end to misleading statements that have deceived” the public.
“The best way to express what ExxonMobile does,” James says, is simple: The company has always promoted “the idea that a product is recyclable, but it’s not.”
The complaint comes just a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law closing a loophole in the state’s plastic bag ban, which has been in effect since 2014. That loophole led to a increase in the state’s single-use plastic bags.
A truck pulls up to ExxonMobil’s chemical recycling plant in Baytown, Texas. Plastics are made from fossil fuels. And ExxonMobil is the world’s largest producer of fossil fuel-based products that are ultimately turned into products like plastic bags, forks and packaging.
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A trial that has been in preparation for a long time
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in 2022 that his office was launching an investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their alleged role in worsening plastic pollution, which his office has described as a global crisis.
Former industry officials said the goal was to avoid regulation and ensure that demand for plastics, made from fossil fuels, continues to grow. Despite years of recycling campaigns, less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled globally, and the amount of plastic waste dumped into the environment continues to soar.
“The lies of Big Oil and the plastics industry are at the heart of the plastic waste crisis, making California’s groundbreaking lawsuit against ExxonMobil the most significant legal action yet in the global fight against plastic pollution,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a statement.
The Center for Climate Integrity published a report in February This indicates that the plastics industry advocates recycling primarily for its public relations value, rather than as a tool to prevent environmental damage. “We are committed to the business, but not the results,” an Exxon Chemical vice president said at a 1994 meeting with staff at the American Plastics Council, a trade group, according to a document uncovered by the Center for Climate Integrity.
“The fundamental problem…” is money
One of the biggest challenges is that producing new plastic is relatively inexpensive. But recycling typically costs as much or more than the value of the material, a BF Goodrich environmental solutions manager explained at another industry meeting in 1992. “The fundamental problem,” he said, “is economics.”
California filed the lawsuit against Exxon months before countries were set to meet for a final round of negotiations to craft a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Environmental groups say the talks have been held back by fossil fuel producing countrieswho are blocking proposals to limit the production of new plastics. Researchers say production caps are key to curb plastic pollution.
Exxon has said the plastic waste problem can be solved without reducing the amount of plastic the company uses. Exxon is among a group of companies that have invested in what the industry calls “advanced recycling” plants. These facilities are designed to turn plastic waste, including materials that can’t be processed through traditional mechanical recycling, into liquids and gases that can then be used to make new plastics and other chemicals.
“Advanced recycling is a real, proven solution that can help address plastic waste and improve recycling rates,” Exxon said in a statement to NPR earlier this year.
However, critics say the technology is ineffective and harmful to the environment and human health.
“The economics of plastic recycling haven’t changed at all. Not at all. And while virgin plastic has always been cheaper and better, that’s still the case today,” Wiles of the Center for Climate Integrity told NPR earlier this year.
Judith Enck, president of advocacy group Beyond Plastic, called chemical recycling “another industry.” public relations stunt.”
In a statement, Enck called the California litigation “the most significant lawsuit ever brought against the plastics industry for its persistent and ongoing lies about plastic recycling.”
