Los Angeles County sues Pepsi and Coca-Cola over plastic bottles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County is taking connected Pepsi and Coke for their domiciled successful plastic pollution.

In a suit revenge Wednesday, nan region alleged PepsiCo and Coca-Cola companies person misled nan nationalist astir nan recyclability of their integrative bottles and downplayed nan antagonistic biology and wellness impacts of integrative disposal.

“Coke and Pepsi request to extremity nan deception and return work for nan integrative contamination problems your products are causing,” LA County supervisor Lindsey Horvath said successful a statement. “Los Angeles County will proceed to reside nan superior biology impacts caused by companies engaging successful misleading and unfair business practices.”

Coca-Cola owns brands for illustration Dasani, Fanta, Sprite, Vitamin Water, and Smartwater, while PepsiCo owns Gatorade, Aquafina, Mountain Dew, and more. The 2 companies person been classed arsenic nan world’s apical integrative polluters for 5 consecutive years, and Coca-Cola has taken nan number 1 spot for six years, according to world biology group Break Free From Plastic.

PepsiCo produces astir 2.5 cardinal metric tons of integrative and Coca-Cola produces astir 3.224 cardinal metric tons of integrative annually, according to Break Free from Plastic.

A European Union user protection group and biology organizations revenge a ineligible title against Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Danone past November, accusing them of being misleading erstwhile representing packaging arsenic 100% recycled aliases 100% recyclable.

The LA suit said Coca-Cola and PepsiCo person employed “disinformation campaigns” for consumers to acquisition single-use plastic, believing them to beryllium recyclable and little harmful to nan environment.

It alleged that some companies promised to create a “circular economy” for its bottles, successful which integrative bottles tin beryllium recycled and reused an endless number of times, while successful reality integrative bottles tin only beryllium recycled once, if astatine all.

The American Beverage Association, which PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are a portion of, denied nan lawsuit’s accusations astir their integrative vessel recycling labels.

“The allegation that our packaging is not and will not beryllium recycled is simply not true,” nan group’s spokesperson William Dermody said successful a statement.

Dermody said California had a 71% vessel recycling complaint successful 2023, 1 of nan highest successful nan country, and that their bottles are “designed to beryllium recycled and remade and tin see up to 100% recycled plastic.”

In 2022 alone, an estimated 121,324 to 179,656 tons of integrative discarded leaked into nan onshore and water successful California, and plastics dress up 7 of nan apical 10 litter products recovered connected beaches, nan suit states.

A large portion of nan problem is microplastics.

Plastics that person leaked into nan situation yet disintegrate into mini pieces of integrative measuring 5 millimeters aliases less. They tin impact ungraded and works growth, marine and food life, and are astir intolerable to region from nan environment, nan suit states.

Some Australian researchers, connected behalf of nan World Wildlife Fund, calculated successful 2019 that galore group each week devour astir 5 grams of integrative from communal nutrient and beverages, and microplastics person been recovered successful assemblage tissues and organs. Though investigation is still constricted overall, location are increasing concerns that microplastics successful nan assemblage could perchance beryllium linked to heart disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and different problems.

The suit is seeking a tribunal bid to extremity nan companies’ “unfair and deceptive business practices” arsenic good arsenic restitution for consumers and civilian penalties of up to $2,500 per violation.

In February 2020, biology nonprofit Earth Island Institute revenge a suit successful California asking for damages and an bid for Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle USA, Procter & Gamble and six different companies to cleanable up nan integrative discarded they should beryllium held responsible for.

New York authorities besides sued PepsiCo last November for its domiciled successful creating nan integrative discarded that littering nan Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie and supplies nan metropolis of Buffalo’s drinking water. A judge dismissed nan lawsuit Thursday, stating successful a tribunal filing that location was nary “failure to warn” nan nationalist connected plastic-related dangers and that location was nary origin of action to punish nan companies for nan actions of a 3rd statement — group who litter.