California lawsuit against ExxonMobil states that plastic is not as recyclable as company claims
The state of California is suing ExxonMobil, accusing the company of a long-standing campaign of deception about plastic recycling.
The news comes during New York Climate Week, a weeklong event that brings together business, tech, politics, academia, and government leaders.
Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil in the San Francisco Superior Court. He and his team are seeking billions in damages for the plastic pollution in the state of California, which they say the company is responsible for.
The lawsuit also accuses the company of deception, as ExxonMobil claims recycling is a viable option for managing plastic waste.
"ExxonMobil knows that the vast majority of plastic products are not and cannot likely be recycled," Bonta said.
In a statement to ABC13 regarding the California lawsuit, ExxonMobil stated they have processed over 60 million pounds of plastic waste at their advanced recycling facility in Baytown.
That's equivalent to 30,000 tons, which they say they've processed in Baytown since 2021.
In April, the city of Houston told ABC13 that in 2023, it had processed over 500,000 tons of recycling in a single year.
Only 18%, equivalent to 91,000 tons, was recycled. The rest ended up in a landfill. Unfortunately, this means that much of the plastic that is supposed to be recycled might end up in a landfill anyway.
Earlier this year, ABC13 produced a three-part series on recycling here in the city of Houston.
The series showed just how difficult it can be to recycle plastic, though not impossible. ABC13 Meteorologist Elyse Smith visited the University of Houston's engineering lab to witness one way to recycle plastic through mechanical recycling.
This process differs from the advanced recycling happening at ExxonMobil's Baytown facility, which ABC13 has been in touch with for six months about touring.
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