Statement: California sues ExxonMobil for its role in global plastic pollution crisis

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SAN FRANCISCO – The state of California announced on Monday that it is suing ExxonMobil. In a press release, the state Attorney General’s office alleges that the ExxonMobil carried out “a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastic pollution crisis.” The lawsuit filed in San Francisco County Superior Court alleges that ExxonMobil has actively pushed recycling advertising campaigns since the late 1980s to convince consumers that plastic waste need not be a problem, as long as we sort into the right bin, “when in fact the vast majority of plastic products are not and likely cannot be recycled, either technically or economically.” ExxonMobil is the largest producer of polymers – the building blocks of plastic – in the world. 

In April 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched an investigation into the role that oil companies have played in the plastic pollution crisis. Since then, he has reported subpoenaing never-before-seen documents proving ExxonMobil knew about the ineffectiveness of plastic recycling. In recent years, according to the attorney general, the company has continued, “to deceive the public by touting ‘advanced recycling as the solution to the plastic waste and pollution crisis.”

In response, Jenn Engstrom, CALPIRG State Director and Laura Deehan, Environment California’s State Director, released the following statements:

“Despite the commonly-held assumption that throwing plastic in the blue bin can solve our growing plastic waste crisis, the sad truth is that most – more than 90% – of plastic is never recycled,” said CALPIRG State Director Jenn Engstrom. “Instead plastic waste clogs our landfills and pollutes our environment where it degrades into smaller pieces. Micro-plastics have even been found in human bodies, potentially exposing us to harmful chemicals and additives. I commend Attorney General Bonta for standing up to ExxonMobil and holding it accountable for allegedly misleading the public into believing we can recycle our way out of this crisis.”

“Nothing we use for a few minutes should pollute our environment for hundreds of years,” said Environment California State Director Laura Deehan. “It’s devastating that any company might have perpetrated a campaign of deception to convince us that we can protect the environment as long as we recycle plastic waste. For a bird, a fish or a sea turtle, it’s easy to mistake plastic for food—especially when millions of pieces of plastic are floating in our rivers and ocean. Ingesting this plastic is often fatal to wildlife. It’s heartbreaking to think that marine life and the natural world are paying the price for an unchecked plastic waste crisis allegedly caused by corporate malfeasance. Thank you to Attorney General Bonta for putting wildlife and the future of our planet’s health ahead of the oil industry’s profits.”

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