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California takes legal action against Exxon over global plastic pollution

California has submitted a. suit against oil giant Exxon Mobil over its declared. role in global plastic waste contamination, its attorney general. revealed on Monday. Speaking at an occasion throughout Environment Week in New York City City,. California Chief Law Officer Rob Bonta stated the state took legal action against Exxon. after concluding an almost twoyear examination that he stated. revealed Exxon was intentionally misguiding the public about the. limitations of recycling.

The examination mirrors California's previous probes into. the oil market's supposed efforts to misinform the general public about. climate change.

Bonta said his workplace specifically desires details on. Exxon's promotion of its innovative recycling innovation, which. utilizes a procedure called pyrolysis to turn hard-to-recycle plastic. into fuel. He had stated the innovation's slow development was an indication. of Exxon's continuous deceptiveness.

Today's suit reveals the fullest image to date of. ExxonMobil's decades-long deception, and we are asking the court. to hold ExxonMobil totally accountable for its role in actively. developing and exacerbating the plastics contamination crisis through. its project of deceptiveness, Bonta stated in a declaration.

He stated he wants to end the company's deceptive practices. and seeks to protect a reduction fund and civil penalties for. the damage caused by plastics contamination on California.

Exxon pressed back at the chief law officer, arguing that. solutions like innovative recycling work.

Taking legal action against people makes headlines however does not resolve the plastic. waste problem. Advanced recycling is a real solution, stated a. spokesperson for ExxonMobil, adding that California has actually done. nothing to 'advance' recycling.

Exxon is the world's largest manufacturer of resins used for. single-use plastics, according to a report published last year. by the Minderoo Structure, with consultancies Wood Mackenzie. and the Carbon Trust.

California's suit comes ahead of a final round of global. plastic treaty negotiations set to take place in Busan, South. Korea, at the end of the year.

In those talks, nations are divided over whether the treaty. must call for caps on plastic production, a position opposed. by Exxon and the worldwide petrochemical market. The United States last month stated it supports a treaty designed. around global plastic production cuts. Environmental groups praised the claim and said it draws. attention to the drawbacks of mechanical and advanced. recycling.

Christy Leavitt, Oceana's plastics campaign director, said. the lawsuit will hold industry responsible and debunk the. plastics recycling narrative that holds us back from real. solutions..

(source: Reuters)