ExxonMobil has filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and various non-profit organizations, alleging that criticism of its advanced plastics recycling claims is defamatory.
Last year, the state of California filed an initial lawsuit against ExxonMobil for reported violations of state laws surrounding false advertising, unfair competition, and water pollution. It proclaimed that consumers were deceived into buying more single-use plastic than they otherwise would have done under the impression that it would be safely and easily recycled.
In reality, prosecutors argued, ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling equipment could only handle limited quantities of waste. 92% of its recycled plastic was said to be used as fuel, with the leftover yield containing very little recyclate.
The lawsuit added that, even at maximum capacity, ExxonMobil recycles less than 1% of its virgin plastic production capacity – which, it says, continues to rise.
ExxonMobil refuted the allegations. In their view, California officials had been aware of inefficiencies in the state’s recycling system for decades, but had failed to address them and were now attempting to shift the blame.
“Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills,” the company said in a statement.
Nevertheless, a coalition of non-profits – including the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay, and San Francisco Baykeeper – filed its own lawsuit for alleged violations of nuisance and unfair competition laws.
“As alleged in our complaint, Exxon profited by claiming plastics are safe and recyclable,” said Allison Chin, president of the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors. “But we know better now—our environment and health were being sacrificed just to protect Exxon’s bottom line.”
“The complaint alleges that Exxon has brainwashed everyone into thinking that plastic recycling works and that it’s good for the planet,” added Sejal Choksi-Chugh, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper. “But when we pulled back the curtain, we found that Exxon’s plastic polymers are poisoning waterways, wildlife, and people.
“San Francisco Bay has some of the highest levels of microplastics in the world. That’s why we’re going after Exxon: to stop plastic pollution at the source.”
Now Reuters reports that ExxonMobil has filed another lawsuit in Texas. Bonta is accused of working with law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, which has connections to the non-profit Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund (IEJF).
Its founder, Andrew Forrest, is also the founder of the mining company and green solutions competitor Fortescue Metals Group, which has previously criticized ExxonMobil. The lawsuit alleges that IEJF is acting under the direction of Forrest and his environmental foundation, Minderoo Foundation.
IEFJ, Minderoo, and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy all deny these claims, with the latter writing them off as a “PR campaign”.
However, ExxonMobil goes on to argue that the law firm recruited the environmental groups as plaintiffs and contributed to Bonta’s political campaign. Its lawsuit says that “blatant misstatements and attacks on ExxonMobil’s character are targeted at ExxonMobil’s operations in Texas and are actively harming ExxonMobil’s reputation, as well as its contracts with existing and prospective customers.”
It adds that “advanced recycling is not a ‘farce’ or ‘myth’”, and that “ExxonMobil has not engaged in a decades-long secret mission to brainwash or deceive the public.”
ExxonMobil has requested undisclosed damages and a retraction of the alleged defamatory statements.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice described the move as “another attempt from ExxonMobil to deflect attention from its own unlawful deception.”
All the way back in 2023, ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and Zero Waste France announced their intent to take legal action against Danone for allegedly violating legal requirement to disclose and address the environmental impact of its operations. Rosa Pritchard, plastics lawyer at ClientEarth, claimed that the company “continue[d] to rely on single-use plastic packaging in the hopes that recycling will miraculously deal with the flood of plastics it puts on the market.”
Symphony Environmental also filed a lawsuit against the European Commission, Parliament, and Council in 2021, alleging that the continent’s ban on oxo-degradable plastic products is not justified by evidence from the European Chemicals Agency and ignores safeguards against arbitrary legislation. The Court of Justice of the European Union subsequently dismissed the action early last year.
Recently, though, the Commission stated that it would take legal action against several Member States for their failure to comply with EU law; this included incorrect labelling for waste sorting purposes and insufficient efforts to keep reusable and recyclable materials out of landfill. This came after every EU Member State is faced an infringement procedure for falling short of collection and recycling targets, among other requirements.
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