The Golden State’s chief legal officer announced a settlement with four producers of plastic bags for misleading the public in falsely claiming that the bags are recyclable.
Attorney General Rob Bonta first brought the investigation against producers of plastic bags in November 2022 over concerns about their recyclability claims—namely, that their bags are certified recyclable within the state, and that the use of widely recognized graphics like the “chasing arrows” symbol, along with other explicit mentions of recyclability, were warranted and verifiable.
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Upon the conclusion of the investigation this month, four plastic bag producers including Revolution Sustainable Solutions LLC, Metro Poly Corp., PreZero US Packaging LLC and Advance Polybag, Inc. were found to have violated three California laws: SB 270 (known as the Single-Use Carryout Bag Ban), the Environmental Marketing Claims Act (EMCA), the False Advertising Law (FAL) and the Unfair Competition Law (UCL).
According to Bonta’s office, the companies unlawfully sold non-recyclable plastic bags throughout California, and they have agreed to stop selling plastic bags in the nation’s largest state. They will collectively cough up $1.75 million in civil penalties and attorneys’ fees.
Bonta also announced another lawsuit against three more companies—Novolex Holdings LLC, Inteplast Group Corp. and Mettler Packaging LLC—on Friday, citing violations of the same laws.
The seven manufacturers targeted in the investigation have sold billions of bags across the state, mostly at grocery stores, and certified that the bags met the recyclability requirements of SB 270, which prohibits single-use plastic bags from being disseminated at all kinds of retail establishments. But the investigation unearthed evidence that, contrary to the manufacturers’ claims, the bags were not generally recyclable or recyclable within California, as SB 270 stipulates.
“At the California Department of Justice, we have been unwavering in our commitment to exposing illegal actions at the root of the plastic pollution crisis—not just the environmental harm, but corporate legal violations driving it,” Bonta said. The attorney general’s office said that plastic retail bags comprise much of the waste that is polluting California’s ecosystems and clogging its waterways.
“Through our investigation, we are bringing to light how powerful companies have broken the law and prioritized profits over our environment,” Bonta added. “The consequences of these violations are severe: Billions of plastic carryout bags end up in landfills, incinerators, and the environment instead of being recycled as the bags proclaim. Our legal actions today make it clear: No corporation is above the law.”
Now, the California Department of Justice has issued investigative subpoenas to the three newly named plastic bag producers for also failing to demonstrate basic recyclability or recyclability within the state, undermining the labeling featured on their bags.
Novolex, Inteplast and Mettler were specifically unable to come up with records pointing to the quantity of bags that they personally recycle at their facilities, or any evidence that California recycling facilities are recycling plastic bags at all. They all copped to using the “chasing arrows” symbol and directing consumers to recycle the bags, though as it turns out, there’s no means for them to do so.
That detail came out due to a statewide survey designed to verify whether waste processing facilities and recycling plants are accepting plastic bags for recycling. Just two out of 69 facilities claimed to accept plastic bags, but couldn’t confirm that they were recycled. “This conclusion confirms that the vast majority of facilities in California do not accept plastic bags or process them for recycling,” the attorney general’s office wrote.
