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Tag Archives: courts/lawsuits

Brightmark bankruptcy: Parent company wins auction bid

Published: May 29, 2025
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A judge favored Brightmark’s parent company over a slightly higher bid, preferring Brightmark’s plan to keep the facility operating over the competing bid’s liquidation plan. | Photo courtesy of Brightmark

Brightmark’s bankrupt Indiana pyrolysis facility has been sold to parent company Brightmark for $14.3 million in a move that will keep the facility operating and retain most or all of its more than 100 employees, a judge ruled this month. The latest development came after a competitive auction process with plenty of twists and turns.
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Resin producer, environmental group lawsuits heat up

Published: April 30, 2025
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Several lawsuits centering on ExxonMobil’s role in plastic recycling and plastic pollution are slowly moving through the legal process. | Kirkam/Shutterstock

Three connected lawsuits between resin supplier ExxonMobil, a handful of nonprofit organizations and California’s attorney general are working their way through the courts. Recently, a Texas city that’s home to an ExxonMobil pyrolysis plant has joined the fray to support the company. Continue Reading

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Clorox fined millions for ocean-bound content claims

Published: April 23, 2025
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A federal court also ordered Clorox Australia to publish a correction notice and pay part of the consumer watchdog’s legal fees. | Photo Courtesy of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Clorox Australia has been slapped with a multimillion-dollar fine resulting from misleading recycling claims for its plastic bags.  Continue Reading

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Brightmark Indiana auction advances post-bankruptcy

Published: April 16, 2025
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Mixed plastics / serthayos_sansuwansri, Shutterstock

Brightmark says it is engaged in a “robust” sale process involving numerous interested parties, in response to allegations from a key creditor. | Serthayos Sansuwansri/Shutterstock

As of early this month, two dozen interested parties had signed non-disclosure agreements expressing interest in bidding on Brightmark’s Indiana chemical recycling facility, which filed for bankruptcy last month. A sale process is set to take place over the next few weeks, culminating May 9. Continue Reading

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Brightmark defaults on Indiana bonds, pursues facility sale

Published: March 19, 2025
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Baled plastics for recycling.

Brightmark, formerly known as RES Polyflow, is looking to sell its Indiana pyrolysis plant after financial challenges. | Frank Fiedler/Shutterstock

Chemical recycling firm Brightmark failed to make a payment on debt at its Indiana pyrolysis facility this month, spurring bankruptcy proceedings for the subsidiaries that operate the plant.  Continue Reading

ExxonMobil sues California AG for defamation

Published: January 8, 2025
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Court gavel with blurred background.

As 2024 wound to close, major plastic resin producers were hit with two similar recycling-related class-action lawsuits – the latest in a growing trend of pursuing legal means of recouping costs for plastic pollution.  | Zolnierek/Shutterstock

ExxonMobil on Monday filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that he and several environmental groups defamed the global oil and chemical company “for politics, publicity and private gain.” Continue Reading

NY court sides with PepsiCo, dismisses plastics lawsuit

Published: November 6, 2024
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A judge ruled PepsiCo isn’t legally liable for the pollution its packaging can become, and that the responsibility rests solely with the person who improperly disposed of the product. | LuqmanLutfi Photography/Shutterstock

Under current New York law, PepsiCo can’t be held legally responsible for consumers improperly disposing of its packaging, a state supreme court judge has ruled. And now, a California court will test similar legal theories. Continue Reading

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California recycling policy, lawsuits and report

Published: September 25, 2024
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California state capitol building.

On Sept. 22, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1053, which extends the state’s plastic bag ban to cover thicker plastic bags previously considered reusable. | Kit Leong/Shutterstock

Several big recycling updates came out of the Golden State this weekend, including new policy, a lawsuit challenging ExxonMobil’s chemical recycling claims and an update about carpet recycling rates. Continue Reading

Recycling firms unite against reusable plastic bag ban

Published: July 2, 2024
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The Responsible Recycling Alliance is calling for California lawmakers to abandon Senate Bill 1053, which would expand the state’s bag ban to prohibit reusable bags made from 40% post-consumer resin. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock

Seeking to quash a regulatory change that would remove over 100 million pounds of North American post-consumer resin demand per year, EFS-Plastics, Merlin Plastics and PreZero US have joined together to advocate for retaining recycled-content reusable plastic bags in California’s bag regulations. Continue Reading

Lawsuit claims plastic bottles are not recycled

Published: July 24, 2024
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PET water bottle necks.

The Plastic Pollution Coalition alleged in a lawsuit that plastic is not designed to be recycled. | Tezzstock/Shutterstock

A group called the Plastic Pollution Coalition filed a false-advertising lawsuit against Danone Waters of America over its marketing of evian bottled water as “sustainable,” “natural” and “healthy.”  Continue Reading

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