ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

Three major plastic bag producers (Novolex Holdings LLC, Inteplast Group Corporation and Mettler Packaging) have paid US$3.35 million as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that they unlawfully marketed and sold plastic bags that were not recyclable. 

Although the companies claimed that the plastic bags met the recyclability standards set out in Senate Bill 270, the bags were said not to be recyclable to any significant degree and therefore failed to meet the test of being recyclable in the state of California.

The Attorney General of California began an investigation into the recyclability claims of plastic bag producers in November 2022.  The producers, whilst confirming that their plastic bags direct consumers to recycle them, could not provide any firm evidence that these were in fact recycled in recycling facilities in or in its own facilities.  A survey of Californian waste processing and recycling facilities found that only two of the 69 facilities claimed to accept plastic bags, and even these could not confirm that the bags were in fact recycled.

This recent settlement follows settlements in October 2025 when four other companies producing plastic bags paid US$1.753 million in total.  From 1 January 2026, a new law (Senate Bill 1053) bans retailers from providing plastic bags at checkouts, requiring shops to offer recycled paper bags instead or to allow customers to bring reusable bags. Six of the plastic bag producers agreed to stop selling plastic bags in California in advance of Senate Bill 1053 coming into force.