California’s attorney general is suing ExxonMobil, accusing the oil giant of engaging in a “decades-long campaign of deception” about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.
In a civil lawsuit filed Monday, Attorney General Rob Bonta accused ExxonMobil of creating a “plastic pollution epidemic” while telling Californians that recycling is the solution.
“For decades, ExxonMobil has deceived the public into believing that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis, when they clearly knew it was impossible,” Bonta said.
In a statement, ExxonMobil blamed California’s recycling program for inefficiencies.
“California officials have known for decades that their recycling system was inefficient,” the company said in a statement. “They failed to act, and now they’re trying to shift the blame to others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”
An ExxonMobil spokesman added that the company has processed more than 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of plastic waste into usable raw materials, “keeping it out of landfills.”
Bonta’s office said the case is the first time U.S. officials have sought to hold a gas or oil company liable for false claims about plastic recycling.
California is seeking an unspecified amount of funding, which Bonta said could be in the “billions of dollars.”
“ExxonMobil is committed to further [record]- are making huge profits at the expense of the planet and potentially endangering our health,” he said.
Last year, Bonta sued ExxonMobil and four other oil majors for damages caused by climate change.
The latest lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, follows a nearly two-year investigation by Bonta’s office into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries and global plastic pollution.
According to a report by the Minderoo Foundation in Australia, ExxonMobil is the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic resins.
Bonta claims the company marketed its “advanced recycling” program to the public as a solution to the plastic waste problem while knowing it could “only ever process a tiny fraction of the plastic waste it generates.”
The 147-page lawsuit alleges that almost all of the plastic waste the company processed was turned into fuel rather than recycled plastic.
Bonta said the deception violated state nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertising and unfair competition laws.
According to a 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, more than 400 million tons of plastic are produced each year worldwide, but only 9% is recycled.
