Class Action Against Coca-Cola for “100% Recyclable” Claims Advances

A proposed class action against Coca-Cola and other companies selling bottled water can proceed after the plaintiffs provided survey results indicating that consumers may be misled by Coca-Cola’s recyclability claims, the Northern District of California ruled in the case Swartz v. The Coca-Cola Co., No. 3:21-cv-04643.

Crucial to the case are the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides, which provide guidance for environmental marketing claims and are codified into California law.  The Green Guides allow marketers to make unqualified recyclable claims “if the entire product or package, excluding minor incidental components, is recyclable” by facilities available to “at least 60 percent” of Californians.

The plaintiffs initially alleged that the defendants’ “100% Recyclable” claims are false and misleading because most of the bottles are not recycled in practice.  The judge rejected that argument, stating that reasonable consumers would not understand the claims “to mean that the entire product will always be recycled.”  The plaintiff’s next complaint placed greater emphasis on the bottles’ caps and labels, which are allegedly not recyclable.  However, the court found inadequate factual support for their claims, which were also undermined because bottle caps and labels constitute minor components under the Green Guides.

The plaintiffs’ newest complaint overcomes those shortfalls, Judge James Donato ruled on April 8, 2024.  The survey results indicate that consumers understand the defendant’s claims to mean the entire bottle (including bottle caps and labels) are recyclable, and the defendants “expressly qualify” their recyclability as “100%.”  As a result, the plaintiffs can plausibly allege that “these representations to consumers are different from” unqualified claims protected by the Green Guides, he said.

The court also determined that there was sufficient factual support for the plaintiffs’ deception claims to move forward.  Because the defendant’s product labels are “disposed of as refuse” by facilities responsible for over 40% of the relevant type of bottle recycling in California, it is plausible that the “defendant’s products are not capable of being ‘100%’ recycled by plants in California,” the court ruled.

The lawsuit consolidates actions brought separately by consumers and the Sierra Club.  In addition to Coca-Cola, the suit names BlueTriton Brands and Niagara Bottling as defendants.  Between the three companies, water bottles are sold under the brand labels Dasani, Deer Park, Poland Spring, Niagara, Kirkland Signature, and others.