CA sues Exxon for billions over alleged recycling lies

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California state officials filed a lawsuit against one of the world’s top oil giants yesterday, accusing Exxon Mobil of driving global pollution by running a “decades-long campaign of deception” that dramatically overstated the effectiveness of plastic recycling.

The suit seeks “multiple billions of dollars” in civil damages from Exxon Mobil—a main producer of the petrochemicals used to make single-use plastics—California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
In response, an Exxon spokesperson said California “failed to act” on fixing the state’s recycling management, and “now they seek to blame others.” The spokesperson also said, “Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”

It’s billed as first US effort to nail plastics for alleged trickery. Following an investigation into Exxon’s practices that took more than two years, Bonta alleges that the half-a-trillion-dollar company knowingly promoted the false promise that anything with the recycle symbol would be recycled if tossed properly, even though it knew this wasn’t possible. Only 5% of US plastic waste is actually recycled, per the environmental advocacy group Beyond Plastics.
The lawsuit alleges:

Exxon knew in the 1970s that recycling was too expensive to scale and that plastic waste would pile up, but it boosted petrochemical production anyway and continued to peddle recycling as a solution. That got everyone to buy more single-use plastic.
Exxon has strongly lobbied state and local officials in California (and elsewhere) against restricting or banning plastic production.
Currently, Exxon’s “advanced recycling” program is a “public relations stunt” that only recycles 8% of its plastic waste into new products. The rest is mostly turned into fuel.
Piggybacking off that …four environmental groups sued Exxon Mobil yesterday for allegedly breaking California’s nuisance and unfair competition laws (violations also asserted in Bonta’s case).
Environmental lawsuits . California already sued Exxon and four other big oil companies last year for allegedly spreading climate change denialism. More than two dozen states and local governments are pursuing similar lawsuits.—ML

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