In a one-two punch against plastic, California sues Exxon, bans plastic bags

California sued ExxonMobil on Sept. 23 for misleading the public through slick marketing campaigns about its plastic products. A day earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning all plastic bags starting in 2026.

First Look

California leaders leveled two significant challenges to plastic production in the past three days.

The state sued ExxonMobil Sept. 23, alleging the oil giant deceived the public for half a century by promising that the plastics it produced would be recycled. And a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 22 bans all plastic shopping bags starting in 2026.

Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said that less than 5% of plastic is recycled into another plastic product in the United States even though the items are labeled as “recyclable.” As a result, landfills and oceans are filled with plastic waste, creating a global pollution crisis, while consumers diligently place plastic water bottles and other containers into recycling bins, the lawsuit alleges.

“‘Buy as much as you want, no problem, it’ll be recycled,’ they say. Lies, and they aim to make us feel less guilty about our waste if we recycle it,” said Mr. Bonta, a Democrat, at a virtual news conference, where he was joined by representatives of environmental groups that filed a separate but similar lawsuit Monday, also in San Francisco County Superior Court.

“The end goal is to drive people to buy, buy, buy, and to drive ExxonMobil’s profits up, up, up,” he said.

Bag ban

Consumers in California who don’t bring their own bags will now simply be asked if they want a paper bag. The state had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.

State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, one of the bill’s supporters, said people were not reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study that found that the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from 8 pounds per year in 2004 to 11 pounds per year in 2021.

Twelve states, including California, already have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities across 28 states also have plastic bag bans in place.

ExxonMobil strikes back

ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest producers of plastics, blamed California for its flawed recycling system.

“For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. 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,” Lauren Kight, spokesperson for ExxonMobil, said in an email.

Dozens of U.S. municipalities as well as eight states and Washington, D.C., have sued oil and gas companies in recent years over their role in climate change, according to the Center for Climate Integrity. Those are still making their way through courts, including a lawsuit filed by California a year ago against some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, claiming they deceived the public about the risks of fossil fuels.

The lawsuit announced Monday stems from an investigation Mr. Bonta’s office launched in April 2022 into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries, which included issuing subpoenas that revealed previously hidden documents, Mr. Bonta’s office said.

The complaint alleges violations of California’s nuisance and unfair competition laws, and alleges ExxonMobil concealed the harms caused by plastics.

It was filed a day after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a statewide ban on all plastic shopping bags at supermarkets.

Notre Dame Law School professor Bruce Huber, who specializes in environmental, natural resources, and energy law, said the state faces an uphill battle in its suit against ExxonMobil despite evidence that plastic manufacturers “have not been forthright” about the challenges of turning old plastics into new items.

“The state’s primary claim relies on public nuisance, a notoriously murky area of law. It could be difficult for a court to grant California relief here without opening a Pandora’s box of other, similar claims,” he said by email.

ExxonMobil knew that plastic is “extremely costly and difficult to eradicate” and that plastic disintegrates into harmful microplastics, yet it promoted recycling as a key solution through news and social media platforms, according to the state’s lawsuit.

At the same time, it ramped up production of plastics, the lawsuit states.

Lately, ExxonMobil has been promoting “advanced recycling” or “chemical recycling,” saying the process will better turn old plastics into new products, the lawsuit states, when only 8% of materials do so.

The ExxonMobil spokesperson said advanced recycling works.

The state hopes to compel ExxonMobil to end its deceptive practices, and to secure an abatement fund and civil penalties for the harm.

Mr. Bonta said the contents of the lawsuit will stun many who have purchased products made from recycled materials, and who have placed plastic products in blue recycling bins.

“This is a revelation to many, after years, and years of a belief that is untrue because they were lied to by ExxonMobil ... about the myth of recycling,” he said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.