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California on Friday stepped up its efforts to curb plastic pollution — suing three plastic-bag manufacturers, alleging the companies falsely claimed their products were recyclable.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group and Mettler Packaging companies violated a state law passed in 2014 that bans plastic bags that are not recyclable.
Under the law, shoppers can pay 10 cents for thick plastic bags that are required to be reusable and recyclable. But manufacturers of the bags labeled them recyclable, even though they weren’t — recycling facilities can’t process them and they end up being tossed in landfills, burned, or dumped into state waterways, Bonta said.
“In California, we are making it clear,” he said at a news conference. “The truth matters. Public trust matters. Environmental protection matters.”
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The state filed a similar lawsuit ExxonMobil on the oil giant’s plastic products about a year ago. 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 the state should have worked with the company to keep plastic out of landfills.
California lawmakers later decided that the 2014 law did not go far enough. Democratic government. Gavin Newsom Last year a law was signed that will ban all plastic shopping bags in grocery stores starting next year.
At least a dozen states have some form of statewide plastic bag ban, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research and Policy Center. Hundreds of cities also have their own restrictions.
Bonta announced Friday that the state has reached settlements with four other California companies accused of violating the 2014 law: Revolution Sustainable Solutions, Metro Poly, PreZero US Packaging and Advanced Polybags. The businesses agreed to stop selling plastic bags in California after collectively paying about $1.8 million to the state and selling the rest of their existing stock.
The lawsuit and settlement hold companies accountable for mislabeling their products as recyclable, said Nick Lapis, advocacy director for the environmental group Californians Against Waste.
“Plastic bags are a uniquely wasteful product,” he said in an email. “Anything we use for minutes will not pollute our environment for centuries, especially something so light that it is practically designed to become garbage.”