California Sues ExxonMobil Over Recycling 'Myth'

UPDATE Jan 8, 2025 1:30 AM CST

Months after California's blockbuster lawsuit against ExxonMobil over alleged "greenwashing," the oil and gas giant is suing California right back. ExxonMobil accuses the state's attorney general and a number of environmental groups of defamation and seeks unspecified damages and retractions, the AP reports. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of engaging in "a deliberate smear campaign against ExxonMobil, falsely claiming that ExxonMobil's effective and innovative advanced recycling technology is a 'false promise' and 'not based on truth.'" A spokesperson for California's Department of Justice said the AG looks forward to "vigorously litigating" the case.

Sep 23, 2024 2:46 PM CDT

California has just filed a blockbuster lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging that the industry giant has been lying for years about how easy it is to recycle plastic, reports the Guardian.

• "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," said state attorney general Rob Bonta. The suit is the culmination of a two-year state investigation.
• The company is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of substances used to make plastics, and the state blames it for "creating an environmental blight that has cost the state billions of dollars to clean," per the Los Angeles Times. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

• The lawsuit asserts that the company has falsely promoted the claim that virtually all plastic is recyclable, even though the figure is estimated to be 5% or 6% in the US, per the Washington Post. Americans have continued buying plastic products deluded by this belief, asserts the suit, which specifically cites the "chasing arrows" logo on plastic products as being misleading to consumers.
• In an interview with the New York Times, Bonta said the company's "myth of recycling" had fueled the world's plastic pollution. A consortium of environmental groups including the Sierra Club filed a similar lawsuit against ExxonMobil on Monday as well. The company had not responded publicly as of early Monday afternoon.

(More Exxon Mobil stories.)