OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Greenpeace is suing Walmart for offering recyclable plastic products that buyers rarely actually recycle.
The advocacy group filed its case in December in Alameda County, Calif., state court. Walmart recently removed the case to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
“The products are advertised, marketed and sold as recyclable,” the complaint says.
“However, the products are not in fact recyclable because consumers do not have access to recycling programs that accept the products, the products cannot be separated or recovered from the general waste stream and sorted into the correct materials bale by material recovery facilities, and there are no end markets to reuse the products or to convert the products into a material that can be reused or used in manufacturing or assembling another item.”
The products end up in landfills, incinerators or in the “natural environment,” the suit says. This violates California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Environmental Marketing Claims Act, Greenpeace argues.