Plastics on trial

The document examines the increasing legal vulnerability of companies regarding plastic leakage into the environment. It highlights significant settlements for plastic pellet spills in the US and Europe, the potential for lawsuits against consumer brands and producers for macroplastic waste, and the role of economic losses—such as those in the fishing and tourism industries—in driving future strategic litigation.

• Plastic pellet spills have led to significant legal penalties, including the largest citizen lawsuit settlement in US history under federal pollution laws, where Formosa paid US$ 50 million for illegal discharges in Texas.
• Downstream actors in the plastic pellet value chain are also facing litigation, such as Frontier Logistics in South Carolina, which reached a US$ 1 million settlement in 2021 for Clean Water Act breaches.
• In Europe, environmental NGOs are using enforcement actions through authorities to target pellet manufacturers, with specific actions taken in the Netherlands and Italy against companies including Ducor, ENI Versalis, and Basell Polioefine Italiana.
• The 2021 X-Press Pearl maritime disaster in the Indian Ocean released 1,060 tonnes of plastic pellets, leading to legal actions in Sri Lanka to seek compensation and remediation from the shipping companies involved.
• Economic losses from marine plastic pollution provide a basis for future litigation; for example, marine plastic litter caused GDP reductions of up to US$ 7 billion in 2018, and Scottish fishing fleets reported annual costs of EUR 11.7 million due to contaminated or restricted catches.
• Local governments are identified as likely future plaintiffs due to the high cost of beach clean-ups, estimated at EUR 40,000 per kilometre of coastline, and significant tourism revenue losses, such as the US$ 29 to 37 million lost by Geoje Island in 2011.
• Multinational consumer brands are highly exposed to claims because their packaging is traceable; a pioneering US lawsuit by the Earth Island Institute targets ten companies, including Coca-Cola and Pepsico, for negligence and public nuisance.

APA

ClientEarth (2022). Plastics on trial. https://www.clientearth.org/media/vrsfilit/plastics-on-trial-3-environment.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Plastics on trial. 2022. https://www.clientearth.org/media/vrsfilit/plastics-on-trial-3-environment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Plastics on trial |date=September 2022 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/vrsfilit/plastics-on-trial-3-environment.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2022plastics, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Plastics on trial}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/vrsfilit/plastics-on-trial-3-environment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }