California is suing three plastic bag manufacturers that officials say are violating state law by providing bags billed as recyclable when they are in fact not, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Friday.<\/p>\n
The companies named in the lawsuit, Novolex Holdings LLC \u2014 one of the largest global food, beverage, and specialty packaging companies \u2014 Inteplast Group Corp. and Mettler Packaging LLC, were not able to produce any evidence the plastic bags they sold to California stores were recycled, according to the attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
At a news conference Friday, Bonta also announced a settlement with four plastic bag producers \u2014 Revolution, Metro Poly, PreZero and API \u2014 who have agreed to halt plastic bag sales in the state and collectively pay more than $1.7 million for allegedly selling plastic bags that could not be recycled. The settlement amount includes $1.1 million in civil penalties and more than $636,000 in attorneys fees and costs. <\/p>\n
\u201cPlastic bag companies have continued to distribute plastic bags that are not recyclable in California and mislead Californians about their bags recyclability,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cIn fact, even when consumers have properly disposed of these plastic bags, they\u2019ve overwhelmingly not been recycled in California and couldn\u2019t have been recycled. The thing is, producers knew, or should have known this fact years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result, Bonta said, is that billions of plastic carryout bags end up in landfills, incinerators, and the environment instead of being recycled. <\/a> <\/p>\n All plastic bags that have been sold to consumers at retailers in California are not able to be recycled and should no longer be distributed. Stores will need to turn to paper bags or reusable canvas bags as the plastic bags are phased out, Bonta said.<\/p>\n The lawsuit is asking the court to not only enforce state consumer protection laws and SB 270, the state\u2019s single-use plastic bag ban, but also force the companies to pay back the profits made from their bag sales plus additional penalties. <\/p>\n Novolex Holdings LLC, Inteplast Group Corp. and Mettler Packaging LLC did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. <\/p>\n Friday\u2019s news conference comes on the heels of a years-long state investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their alleged role in causing and exacerbating a global crisis in plastic waste pollution, and for deceiving the public into thinking recycling could solve the problem of plastic waste.<\/p>\n Since California adopted the nation\u2019s first ban on single-use plastic shopping bags in 2014, most retailers began providing thick, reusable plastic bags to customers that are supposed to be recyclable. <\/p>\n