- A Kansas county has sued a bunch of firms, alleging “false representations” about plastic recyclability.
- Vitality giants ExxonMobil and Chevron are among the many defendants named within the lawsuit.
- The lawsuit alleges a “decades-long marketing campaign of fraud and deception concerning the recyclability of plastics.”
A Kansas county has sued a bunch of practically a dozen firms, together with vitality giants ExxonMobil and Chevron, accusing them of “false representations” to the general public relating to the recyclability of plastics.
“This case is about Defendants’ profit-driven choice to advertise the thought to the American client that plastics had been recyclable and higher for the surroundings, when in actuality they’d data that solely a tiny fraction of plastics are ever recycled,” says the category motion lawsuit filed this week by Kansas’ Ford County.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Courtroom for the District of Kansas, alleges that the petrochemical firms’ “false representations” across the recyclability of plastics has resulted in larger manufacturing ranges of plastic merchandise, extra demand for them, inflated costs for plastic merchandise in addition to points with plastic waste remediation.
All of this, the lawsuit alleges, has harmed the residents of Kansas.
ExxonMobil and Chevron didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark by Enterprise Insider on Friday.
The lawsuit says that a few of the largest oil and gasoline firms are among the many 20 petrochemical firms liable for greater than half of all single-use plastics generated globally.
“Regardless of their long-standing data that recycling plastic is neither technically nor economically viable, petrochemical firms — independently and thru their business commerce associations and entrance teams — have engaged in fraudulent advertising and marketing and public training campaigns designed to mislead the general public concerning the viability of plastic recycling as an answer to plastic waste,” the lawsuit reads.
The criticism says that the plastics business “must be held accountable for his or her marketing campaign of deception.”
The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed quantity in damages in addition to an injunction to implement that the businesses not promote their plastic merchandise as recyclable.
Globally, about 9% of plastic is definitely recycled, in accordance with a 2022 report from the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth.
