California Sues ExxonMobil, Citing Decades Of Lies About Plastic Recycling, "Advanced" And Otherwise

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil on Monday, accusing the oil and gas giant of knowingly contributing to “one of the most devastating global environmental crises of our time” while misleading the public about recycling as a solution. The much-anticipated lawsuit is the first in which a state has gone after a big plastics manufacturer for environmental harm. It claims ExxonMobil is substantially responsible for “the deluge of plastic pollution that has harmed and continues to harm California’s environment, wildlife, natural resources, and people.”

The company “deceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis,” and Exxon’s new claims around “advanced” or “chemical” recycling are more of the same, according to the lawsuit. It cites investigative reporting from Inside Climate News and a raft of other sources, including internal company documents. As many as 100 other, yet-to-be-named defendants could be added as Bonta’s investigation continues.

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The American Chemistry Council, a lobbying arm of the plastic industry, and the Plastics Industry Association earlier this year sued Bonta to block his subpoenas of their association records. That case, in federal court in Washington, D.C., is still ongoing. ACC on Monday declined to comment on California’s Exxon lawsuit, noting that it was not named as a defendant. But ACC was mentioned several times in the lawsuit, described as working closely with Exxon to “spread deceptive ‘advanced recycling’ messages.” The lawsuit sections dealing with advanced or chemical recycling were notable for their technical detail and references to internal company documents. Advanced recycling is an umbrella term used to describe various industrial processes that seek to turn waste plastic back into the chemical feedstocks for new plastics.

The lawsuit hit hard at Exxon’s chemical recycling facility that launched commercial operations in 2022 at its Baytown petrochemical plant near Houston. Marketing materials give the impression that Exxon is able to recycle all plastic waste through its advanced recycling techniques, the lawsuit alleges. But in fact, the company’s chemical recycling facility in Baytown has a yield of only 8 percent, the lawsuit claims. If that is the case, it means that no more than 8 percent of the incoming plastic waste to the Baytown plant is converted to feedstocks to make new plastic. “The remaining 92 percent of the plastic waste co-processed becomes primarily fuels, which are ultimately destroyed after they are combusted,” according to the lawsuit. “Therefore, ExxonMobil’s claims that there are no limitations to endlessly recycling plastic waste are false because 92 percent of the plastic waste is destroyed (not made into new plastics) in each processing cycle.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23092024/california-sues-exxon-over-plastic-pollution-crisis/