Environmental News from the US:
An environmental group said Monday it had sued two major Californian retailers to stop them selling thicker plastic bags that are supposed to be recyclable but cannot be recycled in the state.
The plaintiff, The Last Beach Cleanup, sued supermarket chains Gelson’s and Stater Bros. Markets on Friday in a state superior court, stating they violated Californian recycling laws, contaminated recycling systems and polluted the environment.
“The Last Beach Cleanup’s legal action seeks to protect legitimate recycling efforts, save taxpayer funds spent on cleanups, and protect the global environment from plastic waste and pollution caused by plastic shopping bags and films,” said Jan Dell, founder of Last Beach Cleanup.
The complaint alleges that the bags have symbols that mislead consumers into throwing them in curbside recycling programs that are unable to process the material.
The lawsuit comes as plastic producers and consumer goods companies come under legal, political and investor pressure to crack down on plastic waste and misleading claims around plastic recyclability.
Last month, California’s attorney general launched an investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries’ role in “causing and exacerbating the global plastics pollution crisis” and their “aggressive campaign” to tell the public that recycling could solve the plastic waste crisis.
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Source: Reuters