Katie Bond Authors Article for Law360 on Litigation Over Recyclable Claims
Katie Bond authored the article “Litigation Over Recyclable Claims Is Bad For Recycling” in Law360. The article discusses recent cases against consumer product companies alleging recycling claims for plastic products are misleading when they may not actually be recycled due to limitations of recycling facilities or the product is not cost effective to recycle. Katie further argues that adding more limitations on a company’s ability to make recyclable claims, such as requiring a company to predict whether the item will actually be recycled, may only exacerbate the issues facing recycling facilities.
“Without any recyclable claims on a plastic product, consumers are left to rely on the Resin Identification Code normally found on the bottom of a product or package. … Where a consumer relies on the RIC alone for determining recyclability, the consumer stands to send into the U.S. recycling stream an item that is difficult to sort or cannot be recycled at all, perpetuating a known, significant challenge to U.S. recycling.”