Attorney General Rob Bonta charged Exxon of fueling a “deluge” of plastic pollution in a civil case filed on Monday, despite assuring Californians that recycling was the solution.
“For numerous years, ExxonMobil has been misleading the public to suggest that recycling plastic could address the issue of plastic waste and pollution, even though they were well aware that this was unfeasible,” stated Bonta.
Exxon attributed California’s ineffective recycling policy in a statement.
California officials have known for decades that their recycling system is inefficient. After failing to take action, they are now trying to assign blame.
The company released a statement saying, “Instead of suing us, they could have collaborated with us to resolve the issue and keep plastic out of landfills.”
Remarkably, an Exxon representative went on, “keeping it out of landfills” by processing over 60 million pounds (27 million kg) of plastic garbage into basic materials that might be used.
According to Bonta’s office, this is the first time that US authorities have tried to hold an oil or gas business responsible for making false promises about the recycling of plastics.
According to Bonta, California is requesting an amount of money that is not yet known but may total “multiple billions of dollars.”
“In order to maintain its [record]-breaking profits at the cost of our planet and possibly endangering our health, ExxonMobil lied,” he declared.
