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Coca-Cola takes advantage of consumers’ desire to buy environmentally-friendly products by falsely representing its plastic bottles as 100 percent recyclable, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiffs Marcelo Muto, Cristina Salgado, and David Swartz filed a class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company, BlueTriton Brands, Inc. and Niagara Bottling, LLC, alleging violations of California consumer laws and environmental marketing laws, false advertising and unfair business practices.
The consumers say the defendants produce more than 100 billion single-use plastic bottles every year — or 3,400 per second. More and more, consumers are seeking out products that are either compostable or recyclable to divert plastic waste from waterways, landfills and incinerators.
Taking advantage of this consumer demand, the group says Coca-Cola and the other defendants started the “Every Bottle Back” initiative.
“Central to this marketing campaign is the claim ‘100% Recyclable,’ which Defendants affix to their single-use plastic water bottles,” the class action states. “However, the plastic bottles are not ‘100% Recyclable.’”
This is because the bottle caps and the plastic labels on the bottles are not recyclable and cannot be processed into usable material, they allege. Plus, at least 28 percent of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottle caps sent to recycling centers are lost in processing or are contaminated, and end up in landfills or burned.
The class action says domestic recycling facilities only have the capacity to process approximately 22.5 percent of the PET and HDPE consumed in the United States.
“Defendants’ continued use of misleading and deceptive recyclability claims on their products serves to defraud the public about plastic water bottles,” the class action alleges.
“It falsely informs consumers that they are making an environmentally responsible choice when they purchase and dispose of Defendants’ plastic water bottles in a municipal recycling bin.”
The class action says Coca-Cola’s single-use plastics are damaging the environment even when consumers properly dispose of the bottles in a recycling bin.
“If consumers knew the truth, they could make more informed decisions about consuming products that are truly sustainable.”
They are seeking an injunction stopping the sale of the plastic bottled water unless the products’ packaging and marketing are modified to remove the “100% Recyclable” representation and disclose facts about their true recyclability.
They are also seeking certification of the class action, damages, restitution, attorneys costs and fees and a jury trial.
On the same day, the nation’s oldest grassroots environmental organization The Sierra Club filed an adjacent lawsuit with the same lawyers against Coca-Cola and Bluetriton for unfair business practices and violations of the Environmental Marketing Claims Act.
Meanwhile, in a similar lawsuit filed last week, an environmental group targeted Coke’s “World Without Waste” marketing campaign in a lawsuit that accuses the company of false advertising and greenwashing.
What do you think of Coca-Cola’s allegedly false marketing campaigns? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Marie A. McCrary and Seth A. Safier of Outride Safier LLP.
The Coca-Cola Recycled Plastic Bottles Class Action Lawsuit is Muto et al., v. The Coca-Cola Company et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-04643, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
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