10 Companies, Including Coke and Pepsi, Are Getting Sued For Lying About Recycling

• Earth Island Institute filed a case against the 10 “plastic peddlers”, including Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle, among others, for contributing 10-million tons of plastic wastes in the ocean.
• The organization said the companies have been misleading the public for years by labeling their products as “recyclable.”
• In their defense, the 10 companies said they are currently fighting against pollution in their own ways.

A California-based environmental organization, the Earth Island Institute, filed a lawsuit against 10 companies for “lying about their products” with labels indicating that it can be recycled. 

Based on the case documents filed before the San Mateo County, companies such as Coke, Pepsi, Nestlé, Clorox, Crystal Geyser, Mars, and Colgate-Palmolive are aware that their products are polluting the oceans by misleading the public that their bottles or packaging can be recycled.

“Companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be held liable for polluting the environment,” the Earth Island Institute argued in its petition.

The lawsuit cited that about 8 million to 20 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year globally and that majority of pollution were from the products of these 10 companies.

The non-profit organization also argued that by 2025, plastic is expected to outweigh fish in the ocean.

They then called on these companies to clean up their mess and pay for a clean-up drive. The organization also demanded to take off their product labels that says “recyclable”.

Earth Island Institute cited the same lawsuit filed against the tobacco companies, explaining that these companies are doing the same practice that cigarette manufacturers have been doing: “contributing knowingly to a public harm” while “lying to the public  about it”.

Earth Island general counsel Sumona Majumdar said these companies market a product and then they create “misinformation campaigns” for the purchasing public not to be aware of the harms that their packaging can make.

American Beverage Association eventully released a statement and said that they have long been organizing campaigns to fight against plastic pollution.

“America’s beverage companies are already taking action to address the issue by reducing our use of new plastic, investing to increase the collection of our bottles so they can be remade into new bottles as intended, and collaborating with legislators and third-party experts to achieve meaningful policy resolutions,” a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association, said in a statement.