Earth Island Institute, an environmental nonprofit, has filed a lawsuit against 10 major food, beverage and consumer goods companies ”“ including three based in this region ”“ that accuses them of being responsible for the plastic pollution in the world”™s oceans.
The companies being sued include Purchase-based PepsiCo, Danone North America in White Plains and Nestle USA, whose subsidiary Nestle Waters North America is in Stamford.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed last week in San Mateo County Superior Court and is believed to be the first of its kind. In its litigation, Earth Island Institute seeks to force the companies to rectify the damage from the pollution involving their plastic packaging and to refrain from marketing products as recyclable because most of their output never ends up in recycling facilities.
“This is the first lawsuit directly to take on these plastic peddlers who for years have spread the fake narrative that their products can be recycled when they know in many cases this is simply not true,” says Josh Floum, president of Earth Island”™s board of directors.
The local companies named in the lawsuit did not issue public comments. Other companies named in the lawsuit include Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Mondelez International, Colgate-Palmolive, Crystal Geyser Water, Clorox and Mars.
