California’s attorney general is suing oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, accusing the company of causing widespread harm to public health and the environment by generating a tremendous amount of plastic waste while also misleading the public for decades about the ability of plastic recycling to manage this pollution problem.
ExxonMobil is the biggest global producer of polymers used to manufacture single-use plastics. In 2023, the company produced about 14.5 million tonnes of polyethylene, polypropylene and related materials worldwide, almost half of which was generated in the US, according to the complaint.
The company has sought to ‘convince the public through a decades-long campaign of deception’ that recycling is the solution to plastic waste, despite its knowledge that the infrastructure, market, and technology for plastic recycling are ‘woefully inadequate’ to handle the volume of plastic that ExxonMobil produces, California attorney general Rob Bonta argues.
The suit is particularly critical of ExxonMobil’s promotion of chemical recycling technology, whereby polymers are broken down into various chemical components that can, in theory, be fed back into petrochemicals infrastructure and made into new polymer feedstocks. However, the majority of plastic waste processed in this way becomes fuels rather than recycled plastic, the complaint states. In the company’s best-case scenario, it adds, such technology will only account for less 1% of the company’s total virgin plastic production capacity.
A report released by two environmental groups in December argued that chemical recycling won’t work at scale and creates new and dangerous waste streams. It urged a moratorium on new chemical recycling plants in the US, although some suggest such calls are premature as the term covers many different technologies that are still finding their feet.
The lawsuit in California not only aims to force ExxonMobil to end the ‘deceptive practices’ described in the complaint, it also seeks to secure funds to remediate harm caused by the company’s plastic pollution; to require the company to forfeit the profits gained through its deception; as well as civil penalties for the plastic pollution the company has caused in California.
ExxonMobil is pushing back against the lawsuit, pointing the finger at state authorities. ‘For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others,’ the company said it a statement. ‘Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.’
The company argues that its advanced recycling is effective, saying it has processed more than 27,000 tonnes of plastic waste into usable raw materials through such technologies to date, keeping it out of landfills.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports indicate that the US may soften its stance in negotiating the upcoming UN global plastics treaty, and could support more stringent measures to limit plastic production as opposed to focusing on waste management and recycling.
In response to these reports, Chris Jahn, chief executive of the American Chemistry Council, warned that if the Biden–Harris administration wants to meet its sustainable development and climate change goals, the world will need to rely on plastic more, not less. ‘Plastics enable solar and wind energy; are critical to modern healthcare; deliver clean drinking water; reduce home, building and transport energy needs; and help prevent food wastage,’ he said.
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