Plastic pollution | New York State’s appeal against PepsiCo dismissed

(New York) A judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York dismissed the attorney general of this state who had launched proceedings against PepsiCo at the end of 2023 for endangering the environment and public health due to plastic pollution of a river.

“The accusations of the complainant are speculative,” noted Judge Emilio Colaiavoco, who sits in Buffalo, in his decision rendered Thursday and obtained by AFP.

In the absence of a law or regulation “imposing such a theory of liability or imposing restrictions on the type and quantity of plastic that can be used, this lawsuit is simply political idealism,” he continued.

The group said it was “delighted” with the decision.

“We believe that our time, attention and resources – as well as those of other important stakeholders – are best spent by being directed towards collaborative solutions,” he said in a statement, affirming that he “takes seriously the reduction of plastic and effective recycling”.

“We are disappointed with this decision and are examining our options,” said a spokesperson for the Attorney General in a statement to AFP.

Letitia James criticized the American soft drinks giant – headquartered in New York State – for “harming the population and failing to warn consumers of the threats to health and the environment linked to plastic packaging single use”.

The complaint also alleged that the group had “misled the public about the effectiveness of its plastic recycling and its efforts to combat plastic pollution”, claiming in particular that the use of non-recycled plastic by PepsiCo had increased for four years while the group claimed the opposite.

“While I cannot imagine that a reasonable person would not believe in the need to recycle and protect the environment, this does not open the door to imaginary assertions of responsibility that do nothing to address the existing problem,” noted the judge.

According to him, “the justice system should not be cluttered with predatory trials aimed at imposing sanctions while seeking any infraction.”

The prosecutor’s objective was, among other things, to obtain from the group the end of these practices, the cleaning of the affected areas, as well as various compensations and financial sanctions for the “damage inflicted on the inhabitants and the environment of New York “.

These prosecutions, described as “historic and avant-garde”, were based on waste collections carried out in 2022 along the fifteen kilometers of the Buffalo River, which flows in the north of the state and which flows into in Lake Erie.