California Sues ExxonMobil Over Plastics Pollution

The New York Times reports:

The attorney general of California, Rob Bonta, sued Exxon Mobil on Monday alleging that the oil giant carried out a “decades-long campaign of deception” that overhyped the promise of recycling and spawned a plastic pollution crisis.

The suit, filed in superior court in San Francisco, argued that people were more likely to buy single-use plastics because of the false belief, promoted by Exxon Mobil, that they would be recycled. Mr. Bonta said the company is a leading producer of a key component used to make single-use plastics. The suit seeks unspecified damages that Mr. Bonta estimated would amount of “multiple billions of dollars.”

In an interview, Mr. Bonta said that plastic pollution was “fueled by the myth of recycling, and the leader among them in perpetuating that myth is Exxon Mobil.”

Read the full article.

🚨BREAKING: California @AGRobBonta is suing ExxonMobil, the world’s largest contributor to single-use plastic waste, over its decades-long fraud to convince the public that recycling is a viable solution to the spiraling plastic waste crisis.
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— Center for Climate Integrity (@climatecosts) September 23, 2024