ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims

By Justine Calma , a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home, a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.

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.”

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 trash, experts warn. Now, the state of California wants to hold industry accountable for the plastic pollution that has accumulated in the environment, animals, and even people’s bodies.

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