Judge dismissed Coca-Cola class action over alleged false ‘100% recyclable’ claims

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Update:

• A federal judge in California tossed out claims Coca-Cola falsely represents its plastic bottles as “100% recyclable” for the second time.
• U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled the complaint failed to plausibly allege the claims against Coca-Cola are actionable. 
• Coca-Cola has been accused of marketing its plastic bottles as “100% recyclable” in spite of many of them allegedly ending up either being incinerated or in a landfill. 
• The judge reminded the court he tossed the first version of the claims after ruling it had not been plausibly alleged that consumers would interpret “100% recyclable” to mean the bottles would always end up recycled. 
• The consumer behind the proposed class action lawsuit has been given one final chance to amend the complaint by Aug. 17.

Coca-Cola recyclable Dasani water bottles class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: The Coca-Cola Co. has asked a California federal court to dismiss two lawsuits alleging the company misled consumers about its so-called 100% recyclable Dasani water bottles.
• What: The plaintiffs allege Coca-Cola violates California consumer laws and environmental marketing laws, false advertising and unfair business practices.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in California.

(Oct. 5, 2021)

The Coca-Cola Co. has asked a California federal court to dismiss two lawsuits alleging the company misled consumers about its so-called 100% recyclable Dasani water bottles, saying neither the consumers or environmental group that filed the claims can prove they were harmed by the statement.

In June, Plaintiffs Marcelo Muto, Cristina Salgado and David Swartz filed a class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Co., 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.

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. 

The claims allege that Coca-Cola is taking advantage of consumer demands with the ‘100% Recyclable’ labeling, and is doing so in a deceptive and misleading way.

They say the bottle caps and the plastic labels on the bottles are in fact not recyclable and cannot be processed into usable material. Plus, at least 28% 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.

However, in two separate motions to dismiss, The Coca-Cola Co. kicked back at the plaintiffs, arguing neither had standing to pursue their claims.

In regards to the consumers, the company said it was “outlandish” they should think just because the bottles are made from recyclable materials, they will in fact be recycled into something new.

“A ‘recyclable’ material is one that can be recycled, and there is no dispute that Dasani bottles are made of such a material,” the company says.

“Whether a given ‘recyclable’ bottle is ultimately repurposed depends on numerous factors beyond Coca-Cola’s control — including the capacity of the recycling facility that collects the item, the quantity of similar materials the facility collects during the same period, and the demand for those materials at that time.”

‘Reasonable consumer’ would not consider ‘100% Recyclable’ slogan a ‘guarantee’ Dasani bottles will be recycled

Reasonable consumers would not interpret the statement “100% Recyclable” as a guarantee, let alone as an assurance, that a product will be recycled, Coca-Cola argued. The company further said the consumers also lacked injury to qualify for Article III standing as their bottles may have in fact been recycled, and they did not qualify for injunctive relief because they were at no risk of future injury.

The company said that Sierra Club’s complaint should be dismissed in its entirety for three reasons.

First, it said, Sierra Club lacks Article III standing because it did not allege that it suffered any concrete injury as a result of the “100% Recyclable” statement. Secondly, it said even if Sierra Club could clear the Article III standing hurdle, it would lack standing under the unfair competition law claims, because it cannot allege that it relied to its detriment on the “100% Recyclable” statement.

Third, Coca-Cola says, the group’s claims are also premised on the “fanciful interpretation of ‘100% Recyclable’ as a guarantee that Dasani water bottles will ultimately be reused in new products,” which the company said is deficient as a matter of law because a reasonable consumer would not share this interpretation.

Coca-Cola is facing a similar lawsuit filed in June; in that lawsuit, 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 Co., et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-04643, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.

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