By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) - Los Angeles County has sued beverage makers PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), accusing them of polluting the most populous U.S. county with plastic bottles and misleading the public about the environmental impact and recyclability of their containers.
The county in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court said the companies were contributing to plastic pollution with their single-use plastic bottles and were engaging in a campaign to deceive consumers into believing they were recyclable.
According to the Democratic-governed county's lawsuit, the companies did so despite knowing the plastic in their bottles cannot be recycled at a scale meaningful enough to offset the environmental harms of the containers, most of which end up at landfills or as litter.
The county contends the plastic pollution traced to products made by the companies constitutes a public nuisance that they must be forced to redress. According to the lawsuit, Pepsi and Coca-Cola should be required to pay penalties for engaging in unfair and deceptive business practices.
"Coke and Pepsi need to stop the deception and take responsibility for the plastic pollution problems your products are causing," Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The companies did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday but have in the past denied making misleading statements and said they were working toward environmental sustainability.
"The allegation that our packaging is not and will not be recycled is simply not true," said William Dermody, the vice president for media and public affairs for the industry trade group the American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.
The case marks the latest in a string of lawsuits by U.S. state and local governments and environmental advocates against companies that make and market plastics.
PepsiCo is currently fighting a plastic pollution lawsuit filed by New York's attorney general last year. California's attorney general in September similarly sued oil company Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), which produces polymers that are used to make single-use plastic. Both attorneys general are Democrats.
An appeals court in Washington, D.C., in August revived a lawsuit filed in 2020 by the environmental group Earth Island Institute accusing Coca-Cola of misleading consumers into believing its business was environmentally sustainable.
More than 400 million tons of plastic waste are produced globally every year, with less than 10% being recycled, according to the UN Environment Programme, choking landfills and despoiling oceans.
According to the new lawsuit, plastic accounted for 246,124 tons of all waste materials produced by residences in Los Angeles County in 2024 and 628,211 tons of all commercial waste in the community.