ExxonMobil Corp. is being sued by California, which claims the business has been deceiving the public regarding plastic recycling for many years. In announcing the legal action on September 23, the state stated that the firm had “engaged in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis,” according to State Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The 147-page complaint takes a hard line early on, attacking plastics and plastic recycling reusing. “One of the most catastrophic global environmental crises of our time: the plastic waste and pollution crisis is caused by the plastics industry’s misleading public messaging regarding plastic recycling,” the complaint claims.
According to California, ExxonMobil is the biggest generator of plastic garbage in the state and has been misleading citizens for “nearly a half a century” by claiming that recycling will end the state’s spiraling plastic waste problem.
“ExxonMobil has always known that it will never be able to process more than a small portion of the plastic waste it generates, even with mechanical recycling and now ‘advanced recycling,'” the lawsuit claims.
