The state of California has filed a lawsuit accusing the nation’s top plastic maker of lying about the value of recycling.
E&E News reports Attorney General Rob Bonta filed his complaint against Exxon Monday in the San Francisco County Superior Court. Bonta accuses Exxon of lying for decades about the feasibility of recycling plastics.
Less than nine percent of all plastics are recycled into new products. More recent estimates put the figure at five percent. A majority of single-use products wind up in landfills, oceans, as litter or microplastics.
Exxon makes more single-use plastics than any other company. Bonta says it has been deceiving the public, pushing the thought that plastic recycling “can solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis.”