The nation of California filed a cause Monday against oil giant ExxonMobil for its role in create trillion of tons of plastic that contaminate the land , piddle , and human body — all while promoting the idea that most consumer plastics are recyclable , something that ’s simply not unfeigned .
A financial statement from California Attorney General Rob Bontaon Sundayalleged that ExxonMobil has been “ deceiving Californians for half a century ” by using “ mislead public statements and satiny marketing ” that promised recycling would be able to address the enormous amount of plastic waste in the man raise by ExxonMobil ’s polymer .
It ’s only in the past decade that the public see much of the plastic placed in reprocess bin around the world never in reality gets recycled . Sometimes the credit card is ship overseas to places like Southeast Asia , while other times it ’s just broadcast to a landfill . China , which used to be one of the world ’s most popular dumping grounds for fictile thriftlessness , stop remove consequence of the plastic for “ recycle ” back in 2018 . Only about5 % of moldable wastein the U.S. actually gets recycled , according to the latest study .
Birds try to feed on chips from chip bags washed ashore on Manhattan Beach, California after a winter storm in 2023.© Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The new cause was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on Monday by the Attorney General , who ’s taken aim in recent year at the single - use plastics that are virtually unacceptable to reprocess . Single - purpose plastics include plastic packaging , plastic bag , credit card straws , and disposable utensil , among a host of others . Bonta first establish aninvestigation in 2022into the fogy fuel and petrochemical diligence and their use in make the plastics crisis .
“ Through its deception , ExxonMobil has get or substantially contributed to fictile pollution that has harmed and continues to harm California ’s environment , wildlife , and natural resourcefulness , ” Bonta say in a press release .
While the populace has for the most part been in the dark about the fact that most plastics are n’t in reality reclaimable , California ’s lawsuit point to a foresighted history of ExxonMobil allegedly push false claims that made it seem like plastics were getting reuse . For case , Bonta calls out a 1989 ad from an ExxonMobil - link up craft chemical group in Time powder magazine that claimed credit card would be recycle .
The damages being try by California are n’t stipulate in the suit , which has been posted in its entiretyonline , though it does ask the court to storm ExxonMobil to “ give up the profits gained through their illegal conduct , ” and pay unspecified civil penalties .
California reports that more than 26 million pounds of trash have been collected from the Department of State ’s beach and waterways since 1985 , with over 80 % of that crank being plastic . But it ’s not just the natural environment that ’s been inundate with charge card in the preceding 50 years . Scientists are increasingly finding more and more microplastics in the human body , in everything from our hearts and liver to humanbrains and ball .
“ plastic are everywhere , from the deepest parts of our oceans , the highest crest on earth , and even in our eubstance , causing irreversible damage — in ways screw and unknown — to our environment and potentially our wellness , ” Bonta aver in a crush release about the suit .
“ For decades , ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to win over us that plastic recycling could solve the pliant wastefulness and contamination crisis when they clearly knew this was n’t possible , ” Bonta continued . “ ExxonMobil lie to further its record - breaking earnings at the disbursal of our planet and possibly peril our health . ”
“ Today ’s lawsuit show the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil ’s decades - long deception , and we are ask the court to hold ExxonMobil to the full accountable for its role in actively produce and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis through its campaign of deception . ”
ExxonMobil did n’t respond to questions netmail on Monday . Gizmodo will update this post if we pick up back .
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