According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a press conference for the Climate Week event in New York City on the 23rd (local time) that ExxonMobil exaggerated its commitment to recycling and conducted a “decade-long deception campaign” that caused a plastic pollution crisis.
Attorney General Bonta raised his voice, saying, “Plastic pollution has been promoted by the recycling myth, and ExxonMobil is the leader in perpetuating that myth.” It is argued that it has injected the wrong belief into consumers that plastic with a “recycling symbol” will be recycled if it is properly collected.
According to the “Fraud of Plastic Recycling” report released in February by the U.S. Center for Climate Integrity, a non-profit organization, 99 percent of plastic is made from fossil fuels such as oil and gas. ExxonMobil is the world’s second-largest oil and gas company and also the largest producer of polymers used in disposable plastics.
According to the Center for Climate Integrity, only 5% to 6% of plastic is recycled in the U.S. in 2021. In order to recycle thousands of different plastics, it is necessary to classify them by type, which is close to impossible, and even if separated, it is difficult to recycle because it contains other chemical additives or colorants. The Center for Climate Integrity claims that even after knowing this, oil companies have lobbied on a large scale since the 1980s to trick plastic into recyclable raw materials. Attorney General Bonta criticized ExxonMobil’s “advanced recycling program” as a “promotional stunt.” The attorney general’s office said the investigation found that most plastics processed through advanced recycling programs are used as fuel, and that new products contain little recycled materials, but they are sold at high prices at a premium.
The WSJ reported that California is also investigating the actions of other oil and gas companies in addition to ExxonMobil, and the lawsuit could expand to billions of dollars.
ExxonMobil protested, saying, “California has not acted and is now trying to blame others.” Instead of suing us, the state of California could have worked with us to solve the problem and prevent plastic from being landfilled, ExxonMobil spokesman Lauren Knight said. “ExxonMobil has disposed of more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste as raw materials.”
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
