The state of California announced Monday that it will sue oil giant ExxonMobil for its role in plastic pollution, mainly derived from hydrocarbons, accusing it of having led decades of “misleading” recycling campaigns that are far from widespread.
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of this western US state, wants to obtain “billions of dollars” from the big oil company to implement “solutions” to deal with water and soil pollution caused by plastics released into the environment, but also to “re-educate” the population, he said during a press conference.
“Plastics are everywhere”
“Our coasts, oceans, rivers and bays are filled with plastic, pollution that costs authorities and taxpayers more than a billion dollars each year… Meanwhile, last year alone, ExxonMobil made 36 billion dollars in profits,” he recalled.
“Plastics are everywhere, at the bottom of our oceans, on the highest peaks and in our bodies, causing irreparable damage – known or unknown to date – to the environment and our health,” the Attorney General added in a statement.
“For decades, ExxonMobil has misled the public by trying to convince us that plastic recycling could solve both plastic waste and plastic pollution, when the company knows full well that this is impossible,” he said.
“5% of plastic waste is recycled”
“California’s leaders have known for decades that their recycling system is ineffective. They have failed to act and now seek to shift the blame,” ExxonMobil responded.
Legal proceedings against the major oil companies, and also against companies accused of greenwashing in general, are increasing around the world and in the United States, to hold them accountable, since global warming is mainly due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, essentially linked to the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) by humanity.
“Only 5% of plastic waste is recycled in the United States and this rate has never exceeded 9%,” the Attorney General’s press release states. However, ExxonMobil allegedly promoted the pictogram identifying a product as recyclable to make consumers believe that their plastic waste would be recycled when the technologies to do so do not exist or are not cost-effective enough to implement, it says.
Even recently, the complaint says, the oil giant began promoting the term “advanced recycling,” used to describe a chemical process that involves melting down plastic to recreate various petrochemical products, including plastic. While 92% of the plastic thus processed ends up, the complaint says, as fuel. On Monday, the attorney general called the argument ExxonMobil’s “biggest greenwashing campaign.”
“Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to solve the problem,” ExxonMobil said. “The first step would be to recognize (…) that advanced recycling works (…) We provide real solutions,” it added, claiming to have transformed more than 27,000 tons of plastic waste into reusable materials to date.
“Persistent and continuous lies about recycling”
The lawsuit, which opened in San Francisco, follows a two-year investigation into the petrochemical industry’s responsibility for plastic pollution in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of plastic per capita and the country that generates around one-fifth of the world’s plastic waste.
“This legal action is the most important to date against the plastics industry and its persistent and ongoing lies about recycling,” said Judith Enck, president of the NGO Beyond Plastics, hoping that this will create “a precedent” and that “others will follow.”
California cultivates its image as a progressive state, especially when it comes to the environment. Its governor, Gavin Newsom, signed into law on Sunday a law that will ban all plastic bags in stores starting in 2026, already obliging the state to provide bags that are strong enough to be reused. ExxonMobil shares ended Monday’s session up 1.81% on the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: BFM TV
