The level of deception created by the oil & gas industry going back to the 70s and beyond is now well documented.  Most of the focus in the press has been on the environmental damage caused by the extraction and use of fossil fuels for energy.

 

This week though, the Attorney General of California filed a law suit against ExxonMobil for deceiving the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling. California claims ExxonMobil advertisements essentially lull the public into a false sense of security about plastic use, because ExxonMobil were aware that even with the most advanced recycling technologies, <10% of plastics would be able to be recycled.

 

Current measures across the globe quote from from 7-9% of plastics have ever been recycled. Which is bad enough, but what no one talks about though is how many times plastics can be recycled. Lush cosmetics are world leaders in what they call a circular economy of plastic. Even with their technology and closed conditions (ie only recycling one type of known, clean plastic), they can only recycle each pot 6 times. That might sound like a lot, but we are still talking about a life expectancy of 1 or 2 years per item.

 

Companies won’t change until consumers or the financial system force them to change. In the meantime though, given the billions of revenue generated each year, by each of the main oil & gas producers, it does beg the question, just how accountable should they be?