Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other top plastics producers and manufacturers misled the public for years about the viability of plastic recycling, causing consumers to pay higher prices and contributing to global waste, a new lawsuit alleged.
Four residents of Missouri, Kansas, California and Florida filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Missouri on behalf of a proposed class of millions of purchasers of plastic products nationwide.
The complaint alleged Exxon and other companies, including DuPont and Dow Chemical , violated antitrust law through a coordinated campaign to misrepresent how much and which types of plastic could be recycled.
The alleged conspiracy artificially increased demand for plastic products, driving up profits, according to the lawsuit.
“These calculated efforts have effectively protected and expanded plastic markets, while stalling legislative or regulatory action that would meaningfully address plastic waste and pollution,” the lawsuit said. The consumers also alleged violations of state consumer protection laws.
Exxon in a statement said the lawsuit does “nothing to advance solutions to plastic waste and pollution.” The company said it is “transparent and meticulous in our product claims, and we have been direct with our customers about the plastics and products we sell.”
A lawyer for Chevron in a statement on Tuesday said there was no basis for the company to be named as a defendant.
“The plaintiff in this meritless action fails to include a single allegation of wrongdoing by Chevron in the entire complaint,” Theodore Boutrous Jr of law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said.
DuPont, Dow and a lead attorney for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In September, California and several environmental groups sued Exxon in California state court, accusing the oil giant of participating in a decades-long campaign to mislead consumers about the limitations of recycling plastic.
Exxon in response to California’s lawsuit said advanced recycling and other solutions work and that California had failed to correct problems in its recycling system.
The consumer lawsuit asked a judge to allow class-action status for people who indirectly purchased plastics from January 1990 to now.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring the companies from advertising their plastics as recyclable, and unspecified monetary damages for the increased cost of plastic products that consumers purchased from the companies.
“Defendants should be required to repay the consumers they lied to and defrauded,” the lawsuit said.
The case is Rodriguez v. Exxon Mobil Corp, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, No. 4:24-cv-00803.
