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California attorney general sues Exxon Mobil over plastics recycling ‘deceptions’
Posted on 9/23/24 at 12:09 pm
Posted on 9/23/24 at 12:09 pm
quote:
SACRAMENTO, California — California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Exxon Mobil in a lawsuit filed today of misleading the public about the environmental consequences of plastic production for decades, his office said in a news release.
The first-of-its-kind civil suit targets the world’s largest producer of chemical compounds that go into making plastic. Bonta, a Democrat, is seeking damages that he alleged were a result of Exxon’s promotion of single-use plastics.
quote:
The suit in San Francisco County Superior Court, which comes a year after Bonta sued Exxon and four other oil majors seeking compensation for climate change damages, reflects California’s increasingly aggressive effort to hold the industry accountable for climate harms as the state transitions from fossil fuels to renewables.
The lawsuit accuses Exxon Mobil of violating state nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertising and unfair competition laws, according to the release. It seeks an injunction against “further pollution, impairment, and destruction, as well as to prevent Exxon Mobil from making any further false or misleading statements about plastics recycling and its plastics operations.”
Bonta, who’s mulling a run for California governor in 2026, announced he was investigating oil and petrochemical companies’ recycling claims in April 2022 and highlighted Exxon Mobil in particular at the time.
quote:
A campaign by the companies in the 1980s helped deter state legislatures and local governments from pursuing restrictions or bans on plastic, Bonta’s office has said.
Plastics production has instead grown to 300 million tons per year, while less than 9 percent of it is recycled, according to an Association of Plastic Recyclers analysis from 2022.
The suit says the misleading claims continue today with Exxon Mobil’s promotion of “advanced recycling” techniques that use heat to break down plastic waste. But very little of the plastic waste used in the process becomes recycled plastic, according to the news release, which calls it “a public relations stunt meant to encourage the public to keep purchasing single-use plastics.”
LINK
Hoping some of you knowledgeable petrochem baws can chime in, but my understanding/impression is that recycling plastics is currently not large scale economically viable unless the public is willing to pay a higher price point for such goods.
Is that correct?
9
Posted on 9/23/24 at 12:13 pm to ragincajun03
Exxon should just stop selling plastics into CA and see how that goes for everyone.
Posted on 9/23/24 at 12:17 pm to ragincajun03
quote:Every company should just pull out of doing business in California. Sure, it will hurt for a few years, but eventually the nuts running that state will learn that their overaggressive tactics are worse for the long run.
comes a year after Bonta sued Exxon and four other oil majors seeking compensation for climate change damages
Posted on 9/23/24 at 12:19 pm to jbgleason
quote:
Exxon should just stop selling plastics into CA and see how that goes for everyone.
But then what will they wrap their paper straws in?
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:02 pm to ragincajun03
We were indoctrinated to recycle and it turned out to be mostly bullshite.
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:06 pm to TheWalrus
quote:
We were indoctrinated to recycle and it turned out to be mostly bullshite.
This can't be stated enough
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:09 pm to ragincajun03
In general, recycling plastic is not economical and doesn’t lower the CO2 footprint of that particular plastic. The main benefit is that it reduces landfill waste or waste that ends up in the environment.
For a high quality recycled plastic, there are two main routes that I’m aware of:
1. The plastic needs to be de-polymerized back to its basic monomers, purified, then re-polymerized.
2. The plastic goes through a pyrolysis process to convert it to an oil that would get refined into fuel or back to plastics.
Both of these processes would require significant amounts of energy and result in a larger carbon footprint. The cost of production is generally higher than plastics production from fossil fuels also.
You can recycle plastics by more mechanical methods like grinding or melting, but the recycled product is a crap quality with limited applications.
Now if you powered Option 1 or Option 2 above with nuclear power or renewable energy, you could make it a lower carbon footprint than current plastic production processes. But it would still probably be more expensive.
This is coming from a ChemE who did some techno-economic work investigating recycling options for nylon 66.
For a high quality recycled plastic, there are two main routes that I’m aware of:
1. The plastic needs to be de-polymerized back to its basic monomers, purified, then re-polymerized.
2. The plastic goes through a pyrolysis process to convert it to an oil that would get refined into fuel or back to plastics.
Both of these processes would require significant amounts of energy and result in a larger carbon footprint. The cost of production is generally higher than plastics production from fossil fuels also.
You can recycle plastics by more mechanical methods like grinding or melting, but the recycled product is a crap quality with limited applications.
Now if you powered Option 1 or Option 2 above with nuclear power or renewable energy, you could make it a lower carbon footprint than current plastic production processes. But it would still probably be more expensive.
This is coming from a ChemE who did some techno-economic work investigating recycling options for nylon 66.
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:11 pm to jbgleason
quote:
Exxon should just stop selling anything in CA and see how that goes for everyone.
Fixed it for you
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:19 pm to ragincajun03
the plastic is already in my nuts apparently why turn back now
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:42 pm to ragincajun03
Recycling plastic is largely a scam. Recycling in EBR Parish is a total scam.
If I understand some things I have read about plastic waste, it can be economically feasible to incinerate it along with other waste to power steam turbines for electric generation. I think Japan may do this with almost all of its garbage.
I've been told less than 10% of residential recyclables collected in EBR (and surrounding) parish. Most is disposed of directly in the landfill. I have been curious exactly what percentage is actually recycled, but all I can find is the weight of material recycled, not the percentage. Far more is spent paying for the service, which appears to be a wasteful feel-good, ineffective expense.
If I understand some things I have read about plastic waste, it can be economically feasible to incinerate it along with other waste to power steam turbines for electric generation. I think Japan may do this with almost all of its garbage.
I've been told less than 10% of residential recyclables collected in EBR (and surrounding) parish. Most is disposed of directly in the landfill. I have been curious exactly what percentage is actually recycled, but all I can find is the weight of material recycled, not the percentage. Far more is spent paying for the service, which appears to be a wasteful feel-good, ineffective expense.
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:45 pm to ragincajun03
The company I work for footprint literally stops at the CA border 
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:46 pm to jbgleason
As I’m visiting my son in San Diego and watching people with flats of bottled water, cartons of yogurt, and gallons of milk going out of the stores. 
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:50 pm to Icansee4miles
Dims are totally against oil not knowing the role it plays in plastics
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:50 pm to Virgo
Wrong. Refineries can feed plastic fluff (PE and PP) directly into their Cokers without modifications, and it converts it back to the monomers, and back through the process it goes. Sorting and fluffing is the current challenge, the recycling is already happening on a world scale in Baytown.
Posted on 9/23/24 at 1:55 pm to Icansee4miles
I did not know this, thanks for sharing.
What did I say in my post that was wrong?
What did I say in my post that was wrong?
Posted on 9/23/24 at 2:07 pm to ragincajun03
Can we sue politicians for deceptive practices?
Posted on 9/24/24 at 12:03 am to ragincajun03
quote:
Hoping some of you knowledgeable petrochem baws can chime in, but my understanding/impression is that recycling plastics is currently not large scale economically viable unless the public is willing to pay a higher price point for such goods.
That's the rub. Plastics are very recyclable but if it is not profitable or if the product is too contaminated by labels, coloring and a variety of types, it has much more limited markets.
Posted on 9/24/24 at 12:11 am to C
quote:
Can we sue politicians for deceptive practices?
How about suing them for stupid counter productive laws so they can do some woke ideological posturing?
NY wants to force everyone to convert to all electric and restrict natural gas. Electric heat and hot water cost 4 or 5 times that of CH4 and electric stoves suck.
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