California filed a historic lawsuit against Exxon Mobil this week, accusing the oil giant of lying to the public for decades about the efficacy of plastic recycling. The lawsuit is the first of its kind to pursue accountability from a fossil fuel company for fueling the plastic waste crisis through greenwashing.

Specifically, California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges that Exxon “falsely promoted all plastic as recyclable, when in fact the vast majority of plastic products are not.” Exxon’s marketing tricked consumers into buying more plastic than they otherwise would have if they knew it wasn’t recyclable, Bonta alleges—and the state has been forced to spend billions to clean up the mess.

If California’s case is successful, experts say it could lead to a meaningful reduction in plastic greenwashing. “This is the single most consequential lawsuit filed against the plastics industry for its persistent and continued lying about plastics recycling,” Judith Enck, president of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, told the Los Angeles Times.

And here's another cool thing about the lawsuit: To back up its claims that Exxon is duping Californians about plastic, the filing cites HEATED's original reporting. It’s just a small piece of proof that independent, reader-funded journalism is making an impact in the fight for climate accountability.

Small sentence, big results

A whopping 41 pages of Bonta’s 148-page lawsuit are dedicated to plastic industry advertisements around “advanced recycling,” a seemingly magical industrial process that the industry claims allows plastic to be “remade over and over again.”

HEATED published an investigation into those very same “advanced recycling” ads back in July. The investigation not only debunked the ad’s claims, but exclusively revealed that the plastic industry’s oldest trade association, the American Chemistry Council, spent over $30 million to place the ads via its subsidiary America’s Plastic Makers—making it one of the most expensive ad campaigns in the group’s 152-year history.

That figure is now cemented on page 113 of California’s lawsuit, in a section where Bonta alleges that Exxon “directs and colludes with trade groups” to amplify “deceptive” advertising about recycling. (Exxon has donated tens of millions to the ACC).

Finding that $30 million number wasn’t easy. To do it, we had to figure out a way to access a prohibitively expensive media monitoring service normally meant for advertising professionals to track their competition. And once we did that, Arielle had to dig through nearly 20 years of available data on ACC’s marketing finances in order to confirm it was among the most expensive campaigns in the group’s history. 

It was a lot of work for just one sentence. But we thought the information was necessary to illustrate how far the plastic industry is willing to go to manipulate public opinion. California’s attorney general thought it was necessary, too.

We’re not gonna lie: the citation makes us proud. It tells us that people in power are not only paying attention to our small team’s reporting, but using it as a tool to pursue real accountability. That’s the reason we got into journalism in the first place; to unearth information that might help citizens effectively tackle the world’s biggest problems. 

Another point of pride is that our journalism is entirely reader-funded, which means a small group of regular people made it happen. The more people who join that community, the more resources we have, the more reporting we can do to keep moving the needle.

Further reading:

• California lawsuit accuses Exxon Mobil of misleading the public about plastic recycling. The Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2024.

"Lawsuits against the fossil fuel companies for deception about climate change have been kicking around since 2008," said Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia Law School. "They have put pressure on the companies to be more honest, but so far none has gone to trial or settled, and several have been dismissed. I’m sure that Exxon will resist this case as ferociously as it has the climate cases."

Bonta did not mention if other oil companies would be investigated further. However, he said other states and public agencies could follow California's example.

• Why California is suing ExxonMobil for ‘perpetuating the lie’ of plastic recycling. The Verge, September 25, 2024.

“Here are the things that we would get if we win this case, and we believe we will. We will get an injunction that says ExxonMobil can no longer lie and can no longer perpetuate the myth of recycling. That they need to tell the truth going forward — they can’t say that things can be recycled when they can’t.

We’ll also get an abatement fund, which will be funded by billions of dollars from ExxonMobil. It will pay for ongoing plastic pollution in California that harms our people, our environment, our natural resources,” [said California Attorney General Rob Bonta].

• Plastic recycling is a scam. HEATED, March 2024.

The Center for Climate Integrity’s new report details internal communications that reveal the industry’s motivation. In a 1984 memo, The Society of the Plastics Industry clearly laid out the stakes: Lawmakers “must see substantial short-term progress in the recycling of plastic containers, or else punitive legislation … will attack the problem head-on.”

In other words, without a convincing campaign promoting recycling, lawmakers would regulate plastic pollution. In the early 90s, plastics industry experts claimed that there were more than 500 bills proposals related to plastic waste management across all levels of government. “The call was to recycle or be banned,” an Occidental Chemical employee testified to Congress in 1992.

Catch of the day: Reader Amelia is celebrating her one-year anniversary of subscribing to HEATED(!) by sharing her bonded pair of brothers. Tonka (black with fluffy tail) and Sundae (the tabby), absolutely love creating mischief around her London flat. 

Tonka and Sundae also wish the U.K. government would incentivize landlords to invest in energy efficiency upgrades in old buildings. Better insulation would keep them warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, and could significantly decrease carbon emissions.

Thank you Amelia, Tonka, and Sundae for being our readers and making our journalism possible!

Want to see your furry (or non-furry!) friend in HEATED? Send a picture and some words to catchoftheday@heated.world.