California Sues Exxon for Plastics Deception

CALIFORNIA — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymers, over its decades-long fraud to convince the public that recycling is a viable solution to the spiraling plastic waste crisis.

The lawsuit cites evidence from a Center for Climate Integrity report released earlier this year that shows how Exxon and other fossil fuel and petrochemical companies have deceptively promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years despite long-standing internal knowledge that it  is not technically or economically viable at scale. 

ExxonMobil is facing separate lawsuits from 10 attorneys general — including Bonta — and dozens of local and tribal governments for deceiving the public about the role of its fossil fuel products in causing climate change. An August poll from Data for Progress and CCI found that 70 percent of U.S. voters — including 54 percent of Republicans — support legal action against the fossil fuel and plastics industries for deceiving the public about their role in plastic pollution. 

Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement: 

“Big Oil and the plastic industry’s lies are the beating heart of the plastic waste crisis, which makes California’s groundbreaking lawsuit against ExxonMobil the most important legal action to date in the global fight against plastic pollution.

“ExxonMobil is now facing long-overdue legal accountability for its role in causing and lying about the two greatest environmental catastrophes facing humanity: the climate crisis and the plastic waste crisis. 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. 

“We applaud Attorney General Bonta for taking this historic action to hold Exxon accountable for the fraud of plastic recycling, and we hope to see more officials follow suit.” 

CCI Report Provided Evidence of Deception

In February, the Center for Climate Integrity released a new report, “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the plastics industry deceived the public for decades and caused the plastic waste crisis,” which laid out new and existing evidence that could provide the foundation for legal efforts to hold fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies accountable for their lies and deception.

Among the new pieces of evidence in the report: 

• Petrochemical companies, including oil majors such as ExxonMobil, have long known that, in the words of one 1980s industry report, "recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of."
• Discussing the industry’s commitment to plastic recycling demonstration projects, an Exxon employee told staffers at the American Plastics Council in 1994, “we are committed to the activities, but not committed to the results.” 

Read the report here.