California has launched legal action against one of the world’s biggest oil companies, claiming it lied about the effectiveness of its plastics recycling in order to boost profits.
Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, on Monday accused ExxonMobil of “deceiving” Californians by using “misleading public statements and slick marketing” over the recyclability of its plastics.
The company, which owns Esso in the UK, is the world’s largest producer of resins used for single-use plastics. Its products are used in food packaging and nappies.
Exxon is also a major recycler of plastics, with plans to recycle a billion pounds of plastic a year by the end of 2026.
On Monday, Mr Bonta said the state was suing Exxon after concluding a near two-year investigation. He claimed it had shown that Exxon was deliberately misleading the public about the limitations of recycling.
He said: “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 jeopardising our health.”
Mr Bonta said his office specifically wants information on Exxon’s promotion of its “advanced recycling” technology, which uses a process called pyrolysis to turn hard-to-recycle plastic into fuel. He alleged the technology’s slow progress was a sign of Exxon’s ongoing deception.
He said he wants to end the company’s “deceptive practices” and seeks to secure an abatement fund and civil penalties for the harm inflicted by plastics pollution.
Exxon pushed back at the attorney general, arguing that solutions like advanced recycling work.
An ExxonMobil spokesman told Reuters: “Suing people makes headlines but doesn’t solve the plastic waste problem. Advanced recycling is a real solution.
The spokesman added that California has done “nothing to ‘advance’ recycling.”
ExxonMobil was contacted for further comment.
The lawsuit comes amid mounting criticism from businesses of the political direction of California under its Democratic governor Gavin Newsom.
Last month, rival oil giant Chevron announced it would abandon its California headquarters in protest at the state’s “harsh” green policies.
Chevron said it would relocate to Houston, Texas, breaking a historic association that stretches back to the 1870s.
In January, Andy Walz, a top Chevron executive, warned that the state’s attacks on industry would deter investment. He said: “These arbitrary attacks on a disfavoured industry … signal to every industry, entrepreneur, manufacturer and employer that California is closed for business.”
The move of head office followed Elon Musk’s decision to move the headquarters of SpaceX and his social media company X out of the state. He criticised the state for “attacking both families and companies”, saying that a rule that blocks school districts from requiring teachers to tell parents if their child changes their gender identification was “the final straw”.
Source Agencies
