California sues ExxonMobil for plastics marketing

California has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil that alleges the company misled state residents for years by promoting recycling as a solution to plastic waste, despite knowing that most plastic cannot and will not be recycled.

California attorney general Rob Bonta said the lawsuit, filed today in state court, would hold ExxonMobil accountable for a "decades-long deception" that he says has exacerbated plastic pollution on land and waters. The state is seeking to block the company from certain marketing claims about recycling, in addition to imposing penalties and contributing to an abatement fund to clean up plastic waste.

"ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn't possible," Bonta said.

ExxonMobil is the world's largest producer of petrochemical polymers used in single-use plastics, the lawsuit says, with 14.5mn t/yr of production capacity of polyethylene and polypropylene last year. The lawsuit comes after an investigation that Bonta launched into the plastic waste "crisis" in 2022.

ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit has similarities to climate-related lawsuits that state and local governments have recently filed against ExxonMobil and other oil companies by alleging various violations of state laws on "public nuisance" and misleading advertising. Today's lawsuit cites internal company communications to allege ExxonMobil knowingly promoted deceptive information on recycling to avoid "negative" consumer perceptions about single-use plastics.

The lawsuit comes a day after California governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law that will ban all plastic bags from being provided at grocery stores in 2026. California law already restricts the availability of thin, single-use plastic bags at stores. Critics said those restrictions led stores to pivot to thicker plastic bags that are mostly thrown away, resulting in a net increase in plastic waste.

By Chris Knight