ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims
Plastic bottles and other trash piled up along the bank of the San Gabriel River just a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean. | Photo: Getty Images
ExxonMobil has misled consumers for years by perpetuating a “myth” about plastic recycling, according to a new lawsuit filed by the state of California.
ExxonMobil is the world’s leading producer of single-use plastics that become waste, according to the state attorney general’s office. To encourage people to buy products made with single-use plastics, the suit alleges, ExxonMobil “deceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis.”
“They clearly knew this wasn’t possible.”Plastic is quite difficult to reuse, which is why very little of it is ever recycled. Promoting recycling as a cure-all for plastic waste can actually lead to more of it becoming...