California is suing ExxonMobil Corp., alleging the company has misled the public about plastics recycling for decades.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta claims the company has "engaged in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis," the state said in announcing the Sept. 23 legal action.
The 147-page lawsuit pulls no punches, coming out of the gate swinging at plastics and plastics recycling.
"The plastics industry, through its deceptive public messaging regarding plastic recycling, is responsible for one of the most devastating global environmental crises of our time: the plastic waste and pollution crisis," the lawsuit states.
California alleges ExxonMobil is the largest producer of plastic that becomes plastic waste in the state and has deceived state residents for "almost a half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis.
"All the while, ExxonMobil has known that mechanical recycling, and now 'advanced recycling,' will never be able to process more than a tiny fraction of the plastic waste it produces," the lawsuit alleges.
While only ExxonMobil is specifically named in the lawsuit at this point, the attorney general left a placeholder in the lawsuit, also naming unknown defendants who also allegedly violated the law. Those unnamed defendants will be added to the complaint once they are discovered, the lawsuit states.