This week the State of California filed a lawsuit against oil giant ExxonMobil in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleging that they have been concealing the harms caused by single-use plastics. The lawsuit goes on to allege that Exxon led the public to believe that plastic waste can be easily recycled, incinerated and disposed of in landfills with minimal effect on human health and the environment. Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay, and Baykeeper have collectively filed a similar lawsuit alongside the State.
“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,” reads a statement from California Attorney General Ron Bonta.
“ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health. Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold ExxonMobil fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis through its campaign of deception,” continues the statement.
Bonta goes on to outline the myriad of ways Exxon has been deceiving the public in regards to plastics and recycling. They allege that 92 percent of plastic waste processed through Exxon’s “advanced recycling” technology is never recycled at all, rather turned into fuels. They also note that plastics created from the advanced recycling make up less than one percent of Exxon’s program total virgin plastic production capacity.
“ExxonMobil’s ‘advanced recycling’ process cannot handle large amounts of post-consumer plastic waste such as potato chip bags without risking the safety and performance of its equipment,” reads the statement.
Issuing a statement of their own, the Surfrider Foundation reports that “over 90 percent of U.S. consumers consider the amount of plastic in a product before deciding on a purchase.”
“Exxon knew this fact — and exploited it. The complaint alleges Exxon concealed the truth about plastic and recycling, downplaying the risk of pollution from their products, while continuing to sell single-use plastics knowing they would be discarded.”
The lawsuit goes back to a Department of Justice investigation that began in April 2022 and was looking into fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their role in causing the global plastics waste and pollution crisis.
“We’re taking this fight to court to hold Exxon accountable for their contribution to the plastic pollution crisis,” says Jennifer Savage, Surfrider’s Senior Plastic Pollution Initiative Manager.
The State of California reports that annually an estimated 12.1 million tons of plastic waste become aquatic pollution, and 19.8 million tons pollute the land. Meanwhile, Surfrider has found that 85 percent of the trash collected in their California beach cleanups in 2023 was single-use plastics.