In a 147-page complaint filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, the California Department of Justice alleges that ExxonMobil, the world’s largest producer of plastic polymers, falsely marketed plastic as universally recyclable — even though most plastic products are not, and likely cannot be, recycled. According to the state, ExxonMobil's misleading advertising has driven increased plastic consumption, despite the fact that most plastics are not recyclable. The lawsuit seeks to hold ExxonMobil accountable for its environmental impact, calling for penalties, funds for environmental abatement, and an end to the alleged deceptive practices. The suit also claims that ExxonMobil promoted false solutions to encourage plastic use while continuing to ramp up production of single-use plastics. This, the state argues, has caused widespread environmental harm in California, including damage to wildlife, coastlines, and vulnerable communities. “Plastics are everywhere, from the deepest parts of our oceans, the highest peaks on earth, and even in our bodies, causing irreversible damage — in ways known and unknown — to our environment and potentially our health,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. The legal action follows a 2022 investigation into the role oil and gas companies play in plastic pollution. Bonta’s office said this is the first case in which the government has sought to hold an energy company accountable for making misleading claims about plastic recycling. The lawsuit seeks damages that would amount to “multiple billions of dollars.” “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 jeopardizing our health,” Bonta said in the statement. “Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold ExxonMobil fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis through its campaign of deception,” Bonta added. On the same day as California's suit, four environmental groups also filed separate lawsuits against ExxonMobil. In response, ExxonMobil criticized the state’s actions, claiming that California officials have long known about the inefficiencies in their recycling system. “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective,” Lauren Kight, an ExxonMobil spokesperson, said in a statement. “They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”California has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, accusing the oil giant of engaging in a decades-long campaign that the state’s attorney general says has "caused and exacerbated" the global pollution crisis.
