Trial begins in Connecticut over allegedly misleading Hefty ‘recycling’ bags

By Top Class Actions | May 20, 2026

Category: Consumer News

woman hands holding blue roll of plastic garbage bag — (Photo Credit: Lysenko Andrii/Shutterstock)

Hefty recycling bags lawsuit overview:

Who: The state of Connecticut is suing Reynolds Consumer Products LLC and Reynolds Consumer Products Inc.
Why: Connecticut claims Hefty “recycling” bags misled consumers into believing the bags and their contents would be recycled.
Where: The lawsuit is being tried in Connecticut state court.

Connecticut officials told a state court that Hefty “recycling” bags marketed by Reynolds Consumer Products were routinely thrown away at recycling facilities because plastic bags can jam sorting machinery and contaminate recycling streams.

The testimony came during the start of a bench trial in Connecticut’s lawsuit accusing Reynolds of deceptively marketing the bags as suitable for recycling collection.

Sherrill Baldwin, an environmental analyst with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, testified that plastic bags are considered “tanglers” at material recovery facilities because they can become caught in sorting equipment and require machinery shutdowns for removal.

“They get put into the trash,” Baldwin testified, as reported by Law360. “The line is moving so fast, they don’t have time to open anything. They just toss it.”

According to Baldwin, Connecticut’s recycling guidance has listed plastic bags as unacceptable in curbside recycling programs since 2017. She testified that if recyclables are placed inside plastic bags, workers generally discard both the bag and its contents instead of sorting the recyclable materials inside.

The lawsuit alleges consumers who used the Hefty bags to collect recyclable items unknowingly sent otherwise recyclable cardboard, glass and aluminum materials to landfills or incinerators.

Connecticut claims Hefty bags caused consumer confusion

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s office filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging Reynolds misled consumers through product packaging and advertising that suggested the bags were appropriate for municipal recycling programs.

The state claims more than 100,000 boxes of the bags were sold in Connecticut and argues the marketing caused consumer confusion and environmental harm.

According to the state’s allegations, consumers spent money on products that allegedly could not be used as advertised and were misled about proper recycling practices.

Reynolds argues the bags were marketed for use in recycling programs “where applicable” and notes some municipalities and private recycling systems historically allowed or required recyclable materials to be placed in plastic bags.

The company also stated it changed the products’ labeling in 2024 to clarify the bags “are not recyclable” and now markets them simply as “Clear” and “Blue” bags.

Connecticut is seeking disgorgement of profits, injunctive relief and funding for a public education campaign aimed at correcting consumer misconceptions about the bags.

Earlier this year, Reynolds agreed to pay $212,000 to resolve allegations from the Arizona attorney general that it misleadingly marketed Hefty “recycling” bags as recyclable, even though Arizona recycling programs do not accept them.

What do you think about Connecticut’s claims against Reynolds over the Hefty “recycling” bags? Let us know in the comments.

The state of Connecticut is represented by Kaelah M. Smith, Matthew I. Levine, Daniel Matthew Salton and Julia Rose Suesser of the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General.

The Hefty recycling bags lawsuit is State of Connecticut v. Reynolds Consumer Products Inc., et al., Case No. HHD-CV22-6156769-S, in the Hartford Judicial District of the Connecticut Superior Court.