The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing three companies that allegedly distribute single-use plastic bags in violation of an 11-year-old state law.
The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco on Friday, names Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group Corp. and Mettler Packaging and alleges that they unlawfully sold and distributed plastic bags. The suit also accuses them of producing misleading environmental marketing materials, failing to substantiate environmental marketing claims and engaging in untrue or misleading advertising. And the lawsuit accuses the companies of unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business practices.
The continued distribution of lightweight, single-use plastic bags is a violation of Senate Bill 270, which was passed in 2014 and upheld by voters in 2016 through Proposition 67. It prohibits plastic bag producers and stores from distributing single-use plastic grocery bags to customers unless the bags meet strict standards for recycling and reusability purposes, according to Bonta.
Some companies have continued distributing plastic bags that are not able to be recycled, Bonta said. The resulting lawsuit, against Novolex, Inteplast and Mettler, follows settlements reached with four other companies – Revolution Consumer Solutions, Metro Poly Corp., PreZero U.S. Packaging and Advance Polybag, Inc. – which have agreed to stop selling plastic bags in the state, Bonta said. The attorney general added the companies agreed to pay fines totaling more than $1.7 million.
He also said during a news conference Friday that the companies that distributed plastic bags labeled their plastic bags as recyclable, despite the bags not meeting California’s standards for recyclable quality.
It costs an estimated $25 million to collect and dispose of these plastic bags every year, according to the settlement agreement.
“These bags are not recyclable at any meaningful scale anywhere in California,” Bonta said. “The only thing being recycled are the false claims of the manufacturers.”
Because of the continued distribution of these plastic bags, many of those bags have made their way into California’s ecosystems, including waterways, Bonta said.
“Even when consumers follow the instructions printed on these plastic bags and return the bags to designated recycling bins at stores or other locations, these bags generally end up in landfills or incinerators rather than getting recycled,” Bonta said.
Representatives from Novolex, Mettler and Inteplast were not immediately available for comment on Monday. Representatives of Revolution Consumer Solutions, Metro Poly Corporation, PreZero U.S. Packaging and Advance Polybag, Inc. were similarly unavailable to comment.
Environmental groups on Monday praised Bonta’s lawsuit.
“We applaud AG Bonta’s efforts to hold companies accountable for falsely claiming their plastic bags are recyclable. Plastic bags are not designed to be recycled,” the Plastic Pollution Coalition wrote in a statement emailed to The Center Square. “Plastic bags and other plastics pollute the environment, and they also pollute human bodies with microplastics and plastic chemicals that are linked to cancer, heart disease, infertility and sexual dysfunction, and neurodegenerative illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Plastic bags are among the plastic items that can be most easily replaced with reusable alternatives.”
However, Bonta’s move and California’s regulations reducing plastic refuse in general have their critics.
“The bar is set so high for this recycling, they couldn’t possibly have met it,” Kerry Jackson, a researcher at Pasadena-based Pacific Research Institute, told The Center Square. “I’m not saying they were purposely trying to skirt it, but there is a demand for plastic bags, and we’re really going to go back to paper in California? I don’t think that’s what they want.”
Regulations like the ones California has adopted have economic impacts, not just in California, but beyond the state, Jackson said.
“You have copycat states that say they’re going to do the same thing, and they are when it comes to a lot of environmental issues,” Jackson told The Center Square. “A lot of states follow California very religiously and just do what they do. You’re putting companies out of business, workers out of jobs.”
Legislators who have taken a stance on the use of plastic and its use in recycling have advocated for finding ways to increase recycling efforts and reduce waste.
“I commend the Attorney General for holding plastic bag producers accountable for false recycling claims. Californians deserve to know that products labeled as recyclable truly are,” Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, told The Center Square in a statement emailed on Monday. “The state must keep acting to curb the scourge of plastic waste, which is poisoning our environment and our bodies.”
This isn’t the first time California has taken legal action against companies accused of violating the state’s plastic regulations. In 2024, Bonta filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, saying in a statement released that year that the company’s “advanced recycling” program was nothing more than a public relations stunt. A total ban on plastic bags was adopted that same year, according to The Center Square’s previous reporting.
The Golden State’s fight against plastic pollution is one of a growing number of plastic bans across the country. In Pennsylvania, legislators considered a ban on plastic bags earlier this year, and Democratic lawmakers in Michigan introduced a bill this year that would also ban plastic shopping bags.
