California accuses ExxonMobil of lying about plastics being recyclable

SACRAMENTO - California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced that he is suing ExxonMobil, alleging that the oil giant has waged a decades-long “campaign of deception” against state and local governments “that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.”

The first-in-the-nation lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, is intended to force ExxonMobil, a leading plastics producer, to “end its deceptive practices that threaten the environment and the public,” and also to secure funding for abatement of the harm inflicted by plastics pollution on California’s communities.

“Plastics are everywhere, from the deepest parts of our oceans, the highest peaks on earth, and even in our bodies, causing irreversible damage—in ways known and unknown—to our environment and potentially our health,” Bonta said in a statement.

“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. ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health,” the attorney general said.

The Bee has reached out to ExxonMobil for comment. This story will be updated if comment is received.

The complaint, which can be read here, alleges that ExxonMobil is “substantially responsible” for causing the plastics crisis in California. It contends that the oil giant falsely promoted mechanical recycling of plastics as a solution to the crisis, and that it misled the public to believe that that was a sustainable solution.

“ExxonMobil, independently and through its agents, servants, alter-egos and industry groups, has misled consumers, policymakers, and regulators about the viability of plastic recycling as a solution for plastic waste for more than 50 years,” the complaint reads in part.

“Since the early 1970s, ... ExxonMobil has publicly promoted the lie that recycling would be the solution to the plastic waste problem created by its products, while knowing that it would not. At the same time, ExxonMobil has expanded its plastic production, which has foreseeably led to a plastic waste and pollution crisis across California,” the complaint says.

The lawsuit was greeted by environmental advocacy groups, including the Center for Climate Integrity and the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Just as Exxon knew and lied about how its fossil fuel products cause climate change, the polluter has also known and lied for decades about the reality that its plastic products could never be recycled at scale. From climate to plastics, Exxon’s entire business model is based on lying to the public about the harms its products cause,” said CCI President Richard Wiles in a statement.

Julie Teel Simmonds, at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that petrochemical companies such as ExxonMobil have lied about the vilability of plastics recycling for years, “with dire consequences.”

“Every corner of the world is infiltrated by plastic pollution and we’re all carrying microplastics in our bodies,” she said.

The lawsuit comes as California in recent years has moved to take steps to ease plastics pollution, including a 2016 ballot measure to ban grocery stores from handing out single-use plastic bags to customers, and a 2024 law (going into effect in 2026) that bans “multi-use” bags as well.