California lawsuit says makers of plastic bags lied about products being recyclable

"State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said companies Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group and Mettler Packaging violated a state law passed in 2014 that banned plastic bags at grocery store checkouts that weren't recyclable. Under the law, shoppers could pay 10 cents for thicker plastic bags that needed to be reusable and recyclable. But the makers of the bags labeled them as recyclable even though they were not - recycling facilities cannot process them and they end up dumped in landfills, incinerated, or in the state's waterways, Bonta said."

"The state filed a similar lawsuit against ExxonMobil about a year ago over the oil giant's plastic products. The lawsuit said the company deceived the public by falsely promising that its plastic products would be recycled. The oil giant said California's recycling system was ineffective and that the state should have worked with the company to keep plastics out of landfills."

"California lawmakers later decided the 2014 law didn't go far enough. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law last year that will ban all plastic shopping bags at grocery stores starting next year. At least a dozen states have some type of statewide plastic bag ban, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research and Policy Center. Hundreds of cities also have their own bans."

California sued Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group and Mettler Packaging for labeling non-recyclable plastic bags as recyclable, violating a 2014 state law. The 2014 law allowed shoppers to pay 10 cents for thicker bags that needed to be reusable and recyclable, but recycling facilities cannot process the labeled bags and they end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways. The state previously sued ExxonMobil over similar recyclability claims. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to ban all plastic shopping bags at grocery stores starting next year. The state reached settlements with four other companies over alleged violations.

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