LA County sues Pepsi and Coke for plastic pollution and false advertising

Los Angeles County announced last week that it is suing PepsiCo and Coca-Cola over plastic pollution, arguing that the soft drink giants’ plastic bottles have harmed public health and the environment and that the companies knowingly misled the public about the recyclability of their products.

“Coke and Pepsi must stop the cheating and take responsibility for the plastic pollution problems your products are causing,” said Los Angeles County Board Chairman Lindsey P. Horvath. statement. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s “deceptive business practices” – their sustainability claims – plus civil penalties and restitution for consumers misled by these claims.

The 41 page complaint begins with an overview of the plastic pollution crisis and how single-use plastics are specifically affecting California and LA County. Although LA County invests millions of dollars in collecting and managing plastic litter – for example through street sweepers and large dumps at the mouth of the Los Angeles River and Ballona Creek – it simply cannot keep up with the scale of the problem. .

Single-use plastics “continually wash into county waterways and storm and sewer systems,” the suit says. Once released into the environment, plastic waste can decompose microplastics and leaching endocrine disrupting chemicals such as BPA and phthalates.

The complaint then describes Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s excessive contributions to these problems, using an analysis of an annual “brand audit” conducted by the non-profit organization Break Free From Plastic. Last year’s audit found that drinks companies are the world’s two biggest plastic polluters, as evidenced by collections of branded plastic by volunteers at global beach clean-ups, which generated more of their products than any other company. These results are “consistent with pollution rates in Los Angeles County,” according to the complaint.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola are among the largest companies in the world; Pepsi’s market capitalization is approximately $228 billion, and Coca-Cola’s is $282 billion. In addition to their namesake soft drink lines, the two companies jointly own numerous beverage brands, including Dasani, Fresca and PowerAde (Coca-Cola products), and Aquafina, Gatorade and Mountain Dew (PepsiCo products) – all of which are sold in disposable plastic bottles.

“I have a lot of fear and anger about the plastic I have to deal with every day,” said Emily Parker, an LA County resident and a coastal and marine scientist with the nonprofit Heal the Bay, who was not involved in the complaint. “It is not possible to live and function without coming into contact with plastic.”

At the heart of the lawsuit, however, is the allegation that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo knew about the problems their plastic bottles would cause – and that they deliberately misled the public about it, primarily by promoting plastic recycling, but also by generally claims about building a “a stronger, more sustainable future for us all.” LA County portrays these as cynical attempts to appease concerned citizens, describing a pattern of missing or failing to make progress on quantitative targets for reducing plastic use.

According to LA County, Coke and Pepsi have seen plastic recycling as a central solution to the plastics crisis, misleadingly claiming or implying that their bottles are or will one day be endlessly recyclable. But due to material limitations, plastic bottles cannot be repeatedly changed into new bottles; Most plastics recycling is “downcycling,” meaning it is turned into lower-quality plastic products, such as Adirondack chairs, which themselves cannot be recycled. Scientists estimate that of all the plastic produced between 1950 and 2015, only plastic 0.9 percent recycled more than once.

The complaint demands that the companies pay damages “to all victims of their unfair and deceptive business practices,” and pay civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each violation of California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws.

In response to a request for comment, Pepsi and Coke Grist referred to William Dermody, vice president of media and public affairs for the American Beverage Association, an industry group. Dermody said it is “simply not true” that plastic bottles are not recycled; in California, he cited a statistic that says polyethylene terephthalate bottles, such as those from Coca-Cola and Pepsi, are recycled at a rate of 70 percent. He said the companies’ bottles are “designed to be recycled and remade and can contain up to 100 percent recycled plastic.”

The LA County complaint says Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s ads obscure the fact that the vast majority of plastic they use is new and not recycled. In 2022, only 13.6 percent of plastic cola produced was recycled; that number was 6 percent for Pepsi.

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Eric Buescher, a senior attorney for the nonprofit San Francisco Baykeeper, said lawsuits like LA County’s could “snowball” if they prove effective. “If they win and get a great result, there will be a lot of copycat lawsuits,” he said.

That said, a similar lawsuit Filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James against PepsiCo fired last week on the grounds that it should be up to the legislature and executive to tackle plastic pollution and misinformation. The judge said that while he could not think of a reasonable person who does not believe in the obligations of recycling and being better stewards of our environment, this does not give rise to phantom claims of liability that do nothing to solve the existing problem. .”

Buescher said this seemed like a “hostile” way to approach the issue. “In general, people are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their behavior and for misleading others about it,” he said. “And reducing the amount of plastic manufactured in single-use products certainly seems like a way to at least partially solve the problem.”

It remains to be seen whether other justices will agree with Buescher. Several lawsuits are still pending, including one brought by the city of Baltimore in June against Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Frito Lay for the ‘public nuisance’ caused by their litter, and one brought to you by the Sierra Club in 2021 against Coca-Cola and other beverage companies for labeling their bottles as “100 percent recyclable.” Buescher’s own organization, along with Heal the Bay, Surfrider and the Sierra Club, recently filed a complaint against a company further down the supply chain: Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest producer of polymers used to make plastics. California Attorney General Rob Bonta also sued Exxon Mobil for false advertising and environmental pollution.

Parker, along with Heal the Bay, says all the lawsuits have the same overarching goal: to stop companies from producing so much plastic. “I have been involved in plastic pollution for a long time and what we have learned is that cleaning up is never enough,” she said. “We must hold plastic manufacturers of all kinds accountable for the mess they have made of our environment and the damage done to our bodies.”