Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Plastic waste and recycling claims · United States · 1970–2026

Plastic recycling symbol, resin codes and “advanced recycling” claims (United States)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 3 insufficient · 1 not measured · 5 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps

In 1988 the US plastics industry's trade association placed numbered resin codes inside the recycling arrows, and about 40 states required the marking. In 2024 California sued ExxonMobil over its claims about “advanced recycling”; the company disputes the claims and has sued the state's attorney general.

5–6% estimateShare of US post-consumer plastic recycled, 2021
Estimate by Beyond Plastics. The US EPA figure for 2018 was 8.7%, a year in which exports were counted as recycled.

Status As of February 2026: no ruling on the merits of California v. ExxonMobil; a federal judge let part of Exxon's defamation suit against the California Attorney General proceed.

What?
California alleges that ExxonMobil misled the public about the recyclability of plastic. The case follows decades in which the three-arrow symbol and resin codes appeared on plastic packaging while the US recycling rate stayed low (8.7% in 2018, an estimated 5–6% in 2021). Beyond Plastics
Where?
United States: Baytown, Texas (facility); San Francisco, California (State's suit); Texas federal court (defamation suit). California Office of the Attorney General
When?
1970 (symbol) and 1988 (resin codes) to 2026; suit filed 23 September 2024. California Office of the Attorney General
Who?
Gained
  • Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and member producers — Placed resin codes in the recycling arrows in 1988; about 40 states required the code.
  • ExxonMobil — Markets plastic from its Baytown “advanced recycling” facility with ISCC PLUS certification; the State alleges 92% of the input becomes fuel. California Office of the Attorney General
  • Packaging and beverage manufacturers (American Can, Owens-Illinois, later Coca-Cola and Dixie Cup) — Founded and joined Keep America Beautiful, whose executives opposed deposit laws, according to historian Finis Dunaway. Finis Dunaway (via whatitmeanstobeamerican.org)
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Environment (global figure, not specific to this case) — Of 353 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2019, 9% was recycled and 22% was mismanaged (OECD).
Why?
Two accounts are in the record. NPR and Frontline reported that SPI officials described the strategy as letting the public believe recycling worked, which reduced pressure on the industry; SPI said it developed the codes under legislative pressure and that the numbers did not indicate recyclability.
How?
A recycling symbol, resin codes required by about 40 states, advertising, and, in the State's account, an “advanced recycling” process certified by mass balance accounting while most of its input becomes fuel. California Office of the Attorney General
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The three-arrow recycling symbol was designed in 1970 by a student, Gary Anderson, for a contest run by a paperboard packaging manufacturer, and the symbol entered the public domain and a trademark application was abandoned. In 1988 the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI, now the Plastics Industry Association) placed resin identification codes numbered 1 to 7 inside the arrows (a resin code shows which polymer a plastic is made of). About 40 US states made the code mandatory. SPI said it developed the codes under legislative pressure and that the numbers did not indicate recyclability.

In September 2020 NPR and PBS Frontline published an investigation, “Plastic Wars”, based on industry documents. NPR reported that a 1973 industry report found recycling costly and difficult and sorting impractical, and that a document a year later expressed serious doubt about its economic viability. It also reported that from 1989 the industry lobbied about 40 states to require the arrow symbol and ran an advertising campaign costing $50 million a year. Lew Freeman, a former SPI executive, said there was never enthusiastic belief that recycling would work; Larry Thomas, SPI's president, described the strategy as letting the public believe recycling worked, which reduced concern and removed pressure on the industry.

In February 2024 a report by the group CCI, covered by Grist, cited a 1986 Vinyl Institute document that said recycling could not be a permanent solution and would only postpone the disposal of a product. Measured rates stayed low: the US EPA put the post-consumer plastic recycling rate at 8.7% for 2018, and Beyond Plastics estimated 5–6% for 2021 after the exports that had been counted as recycled fell from 1.84 million tonnes (2017) to 0.61 million tonnes (2021). The OECD reported that of 353 million tonnes of plastic waste generated worldwide in 2019, 9% was recycled. California's SB 343, passed in 2021, limited use of the arrows.

On 23 September 2024 California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil in San Francisco. The complaint alleges that the company had for about half a century presented recycling as a solution to plastic waste, that 92% of the plastic processed at its Baytown “advanced recycling” facility becomes fuel, and that the plastic returned is less than 1% of Exxon's virgin plastic capacity. The state seeks an abatement fund, return of unjust gains and penalties. Exxon says it has processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic at the facility since 2021 and that its output is ISCC PLUS certified using mass balance accounting.

On 6 January 2025 Exxon sued Bonta and four organisations for defamation in Texas. On 18 February 2026 a federal judge rejected Bonta's immunity objection, dropped the claims against the environmental organisations and left three of 14 statements for examination. The record shows no ruling on the merits of the California case.

  1. 1953Keep America Beautiful founded by a can manufacturer and a glass-bottle manufacturer
  2. 1970Student Gary Anderson designs the three-arrow symbol for a paperboard packaging company's contest
  3. 1971Keep America Beautiful's “Crying Indian” advertisement runs on Earth Day
  4. 1973Industry report finds recycling costly and difficult; a 1974 document doubts its economic viability
  5. 1986Vinyl Institute document says recycling cannot be a permanent solution
  6. 1988SPI places resin codes 1–7 inside the recycling arrows; about 40 states later require the code
  7. 1989Industry begins lobbying about 40 states to require the arrow symbol and runs a $50m-a-year advertising campaign (NPR/Frontline)
  8. 2018US EPA figure for plastic recycling: 8.7%, with exports counted as recycled
  9. 2019OECD: 353 million tonnes of plastic waste worldwide, 9% recycled
  10. 2020NPR and PBS Frontline publish “Plastic Wars” (September)
  11. 2021Beyond Plastics estimates US plastic recycling at 5–6%
  12. 2021California SB 343 limits use of the arrows
  13. 2024CCI report on the 1986 document (February); California sues ExxonMobil (23 September)
  14. 2025Exxon sues California's attorney general for defamation (6 January)
  15. 2026Federal judge rejects the attorney general's immunity objection and drops claims against the organisations (February)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“advanced recycling works”

ExxonMobil, on its Baytown “advanced recycling” facility · date not given in the record

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did the plastics industry know recycling would not work at scale while promoting the recycling symbol?
Press and investigations
NPR and PBS Frontline

A 1973 industry report found recycling costly and difficult and a 1974 document doubted its economic viability; from 1989 the industry lobbied about 40 states for the arrow symbol and ran a $50 million-a-year advertising campaign.

NPR (via Vermont Public)
Press and investigations
Grist, reporting a CCI report

A 1986 Vinyl Institute document said recycling could not be a permanent solution and would only postpone disposal.

Grist (reporting a CCI report)
Company or project
Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI)

Said it developed the resin codes under legislative pressure and that the numbers did not indicate recyclability.

NPR and PBS Frontline
Who drove the state laws requiring the code in the arrows?
Press and investigations
NPR and PBS Frontline

The industry lobbied about 40 states from 1989 to require the arrow symbol.

NPR (via Vermont Public)
Company or project
Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI)

Developed the codes under legislative pressure; about 40 states required them.

NPR and PBS Frontline
Does ExxonMobil's Baytown “advanced recycling” return plastic?
Government and regulators
California Attorney General

92% of the plastic processed at Baytown becomes fuel; the plastic returned is less than 1% of Exxon's virgin capacity.

California Office of the Attorney General
Company or project
ExxonMobil

More than 60 million pounds processed since 2021; output ISCC PLUS certified using mass balance accounting.

Company or project
ExxonMobil

Sued the Attorney General for defamation over his recycling comments.

Fortune
Courts
US federal court, Texas

February 2026: rejected the Attorney General's immunity objection, dropped the claims against the environmental organisations and left 3 of 14 statements for examination.

Fortune

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • A 1971 Earth Day advertisement showed a man in Native American dress crying at a polluted landscape; its slogan said people start pollution and people can stop it.
    Keep America Beautiful
  • Numbered resin codes 1–7 placed inside the three-arrow recycling symbol on plastic products.
    Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI)
  • “Advanced recycling” at the Baytown facility, sold with ISCC PLUS certification using mass balance accounting.
    ExxonMobil

Recorded

  • A 1973 industry report found recycling costly and difficult and sorting impractical; a document a year later expressed serious doubt about its economic viability (NPR/Frontline).
    NPR (via Vermont Public)
  • A 1986 Vinyl Institute document said recycling could not be a permanent solution and would only postpone disposal (CCI report, via Grist).
    Grist (reporting a CCI report)
  • NPR/Frontline reported that from 1989 the industry lobbied about 40 states to require the arrow symbol and ran an advertising campaign costing $50 million a year.
    NPR (via Vermont Public)
  • SPI said it developed the resin codes under legislative pressure and that the numbers did not indicate recyclability; about 40 states required the code.
    NPR and PBS Frontline
  • US plastic recycling rate: 8.7% in 2018 (EPA, exports counted as recycled); 5–6% in 2021 (Beyond Plastics estimate) after counted exports fell from 1.84 to 0.61 million tonnes.
    Beyond Plastics
  • The State's complaint alleges that 92% of plastic processed at Baytown becomes fuel and that the plastic returned is less than 1% of Exxon's virgin capacity; it cites a US recycling rate of about 5%.
    California Office of the Attorney General
  • 27 US states classify pyrolysis (“advanced recycling”) as manufacturing, which exempts it from solid waste rules; Maine, New Jersey and New Mexico do the opposite.
    National Law Review
  • ProPublica (August 2024) reported that products sold as 20–30% recycled under mass balance accounting can physically contain less than 1% recycled content, and that the EPA rejected the method for its Safer Choice label.
  • Keep America Beautiful was founded in December 1953 by a can manufacturer (American Can) and a glass-bottle manufacturer (Owens-Illinois); Coca-Cola and Dixie Cup joined later and the founders did not announce their membership.
    Finis Dunaway (via whatitmeanstobeamerican.org)
  • According to historian Finis Dunaway, Keep America Beautiful executives opposed deposit laws and called their supporters communists; the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club left its advisory board.
    Finis Dunaway (via whatitmeanstobeamerican.org)
  • Keep America Beautiful's own 2020 study found about twice as much beverage-container litter in states without deposit systems.
    Resource Recycling
  • Lew Freeman, a former SPI executive, said the industry never believed enthusiastically that recycling would work; Larry Thomas, SPI's president, described the strategy as easing public concern so pressure on the industry would lift.
    NPR and PBS Frontline
  • Promotion of recycling in the 1980s to 2000 cost tens of millions of dollars.
    NPR and PBS Frontline
  • OECD, 2019: 353 million tonnes of plastic waste worldwide; 9% recycled, 19% incinerated, about 50% landfilled, 22% mismanaged.
    OECD
  • California's SB 343 (2021) limited use of the arrows.
    State of California
  • On 18 February 2026 a federal judge in Texas rejected the attorney general's immunity objection, dismissed claims against environmental groups and left 3 of 14 statements to be examined.
    Fortune

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • exxon (date not given): Says it has processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic at Baytown since 2021 and that its output is ISCC PLUS certified using mass balance accounting.
  • exxon (2025-01-06): Sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta and four organisations for defamation over comments on recycling. · Fortune
  • spi (date not given): Said it developed the resin codes under legislative pressure and that the numbers did not indicate recyclability. · NPR and PBS Frontline

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2024-09-23–Ongoing
    State of California v. ExxonMobil (recyclability of plastic)
    California state court, San Francisco · Civil · State of California (Attorney General Rob Bonta) → ExxonMobil

    The complaint alleges that ExxonMobil presented recycling as a solution to plastic waste for about half a century, that 92% of the plastic processed at its Baytown “advanced recycling” facility becomes fuel, and that the plastic returned is less than 1% of its virgin capacity. The state seeks an abatement fund, return of unjust gains and penalties. No ruling on the merits was found. California Office of the Attorney General

  2. 2025-01-06–2026-02-18Ongoing
    ExxonMobil v. Bonta and four organisations (defamation)
    US federal court, Texas · Civil · ExxonMobil → California Attorney General Rob Bonta and four organisations

    Exxon sued over comments on recycling. On 18 February 2026 the judge rejected the Attorney General's immunity objection, dropped the claims against the environmental organisations and left 3 of 14 statements for examination. The suit continues. Fortune

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

US plastic recycling rate
8.7% (2018) → 5–6% (2021)
EPA figure counted exports as recycled; Beyond Plastics estimate for 2021
Plastic waste recycled worldwide
9%
Of 353 million tonnes generated in 2019 (OECD); 19% incinerated, about 50% landfilled, 22% mismanaged
Baytown “advanced recycling” input converted to fuel
92% (alleged)
State of California complaint, 2024; Exxon disputes the claims

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Case pending / contested

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did the plastics industry know recycling would not work at scale while promoting the recycling symbol?
  • Disputed Who drove the state laws requiring the code in the arrows?
  • Disputed Does ExxonMobil's Baytown “advanced recycling” return plastic?

Record

  • Unclear No ruling on the merits of California's case against ExxonMobil has been reported.
  • Disputed Reported figures differ on the share of processed plastic converted to fuel: the State's complaint says 92%; an 8% figure is also reported, and its basis was not established.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a US EPA statement that plastics numbered 3–7 had no market to be sold into.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Keep America Beautiful's funders included PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, Anheuser-Busch and WM (from SourceWatch and The Intercept, sources that favour deposit laws).
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that in 1994 industry and a body referred to as the NRC acknowledged consumers misunderstood the arrows; that the US EPA wrote to the FTC; and that the standards body ASTM International changed the arrows to a triangle.
  • Disputed The US recycling rate is given as under 9% for 2018 (the EPA figure is 8.7%, with exports counted as recycled) and as about 5% for 2021; the measures differ and the sources reviewed do not reconcile them.

Did the harm stop?

No. The California case is pending, no penalty has been imposed, and the record shows production and sales of “advanced recycling” product continuing. California SB 343 limited use of the arrows in 2021; the sources reviewed do not report that labelling with the codes stopped.

Who paid?

No court has ordered payment. California seeks an abatement fund, return of unjust gains and penalties from ExxonMobil.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ International bodies

Government and regulators

Press and investigations

  6. Plastic Wars
    NPR and PBS Frontline · 2020

Communities and civil society

Researchers

  1. Keep America Beautiful Is Founded
    EBSCO Research Starters ·
  2. The Crying Indian ad that fooled the environmental movement
    Finis Dunaway (via whatitmeanstobeamerican.org) · 2017

International bodies

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

EPA
The US Environmental Protection Agency.
OECD complaint
A complaint filed with a government's National Contact Point under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; the process is mediation, not a court.

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.
Plea
In a criminal case, the defendant's formal answer to a charge. A plea agreement settles a case with a guilty plea on agreed terms.
Punitive damages
Money a court orders a defendant to pay to punish especially reckless conduct, on top of compensation for losses. Mainly used in US courts.
Similar cases
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Chemical pollution · Global · 2018–2026
Coca-Cola World Without Waste targets reset
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Chemical pollution · Switzerland · 2024–2026
UN plastics treaty negotiations (INC-5, Geneva, Nairobi, Bangkok)
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionCourt: ongoingHarm to nature not measured
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Chemical pollution · Carbon credits · United States · 2018
Coca-Cola plastic pledges and brand audits
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionHarm to nature not measured
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Chemical pollution · Global · 2021–2026
Holcim Geocycle and brand-cement plastic co-processing
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionHarm to nature not measured
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Chemical pollution · Japan · 2021–2025
Japan plastic waste exports to Asia
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionHarm to nature not measured
Plastic waste and recycling claims · Tanker / shipping · Chemical pollution · United Kingdom · 2009–2025
UK packaging recycling notes (PRN) system and export fraud
Same type: Plastic waste and recycling claims, Chemical pollutionCourt: ongoing