Walmart and Reynolds Consumer Products have agreed to stop selling certain plastic bags in Minnesota for two and a half years, after state Attorney General Keith Ellison argued in court that the companies falsely marketed them as recyclable .
Reynolds makes the blue or clear 13- and 30-gallon size Hefty brand plastic bags that Ellison targeted in the lawsuitwhich was filed in Ramsey County District Court in June 2023. The lawsuit also made similar claims against 13-, 30- and 33-gallon bags sold under Walmart’s Great Value brand.
If Walmart or Reynolds resumes selling the bags after the moratorium, they must be marked as non-recyclable, according to the settlement agreements with Walmart and Reynolds reached on August 1.
The two companies agreed to pay a combined total of $216,670, which includes 100 percent of the profit they made selling the bags, the state’s attorneys’ fees and other monetary relief, according to a press release from Ellison’s office.
“Defendants will institute and enforce legal review processes for marketing claims and provide anti-greenwashing training to their marketing teams at least annually,” according to the settlement document.
In a written statement, Reynolds said: “We believe these claims lack merit, but are pleased to put this case behind us. We remain committed to our sustainability mission of developing innovative products and solutions that simplify daily life and the protect the environment.”
A Walmart spokesman declined to comment on the settlement.
“Minnesotans have one of the highest recycling rates in America because we love our clean land, air and water,” Ellison said in the press release.
“I am pleased that Reynolds and Walmart, benefiting from Minnesota’s good intentions, have agreed to stop marketing to us so-called ‘recycling’ bags that cannot be recycled and the profits they made from those bags have, will withdraw.” he said. “Any other companies thinking of greenwashing their products to fraudulently market them to Minnesotans should know now that I will not hesitate to hold them accountable to the full extent of the law.”
The Minnesota lawsuit is one of nearly four dozen filed since 2015, mostly by citizens or environmental groups, targeting the plastics industry, according to a plastics litigation tracker at The New York University School of Law.
But more recently, attorneys general in Connecticut, Minnesota and New York have raised the stakes with their own plastic lawsuits, bringing considerable legal firepower.
The litigation comes amid a rapidly growing body of scientific knowledge detailing how burgeoning plastic production and plastic waste are damaging the planet and threatening public health.
Plastic is made with thousands of chemicals and is never designed to be recycled. Recycling rates in the United States are believed to be less than 10 percent. Bags are some of the more difficult items to recycle, and their filmy and thin nature can clog recycling equipment.
Ellison argued that Walmart and Reynolds’ marketing violated state laws prohibiting false statements in advertising, misleading environmental marketing and consumer fraud. The settlement agreement included a provision that it should not be construed as an admission of fault or breach by the defendants.
The lawsuit showed photos of marketing that Ellison said was intended to falsely persuade Minnesota residents that the bags were intended for use during recycling and could be recycled. Some of them were a blue color associated with some recycling programs and included a statement that they were “intended for use in municipal recycling programs where applicable,” according to the lawsuit.
Certain clear bags, according to the lawsuit, were identified as “clear for quick sorting and identification of the edge.” Reynolds also placed the word “RECYCLING” in all caps prominently on the front label of Hefty “Recycling” garbage bags, with packaging showing an image of a clear bag filled with plastic and these words, the lawsuit alleges: “HEFTY RECYCLING BAGS ARE PERFECT FOR ALL YOUR RECYCLING NEEDS.”
