MOBIL CHEMICAL CORPORATION

The document details a legal conflict between Mobil Chemical Company and several US state attorneys general over the claim that Hefty garbage bags were 'degradable'. While the bags were photodegradable, they did not break down in landfills, leading to charges of consumer fraud. The case is situated within a wider 1980s-1990s context of 'greenwashing', where vague environmental terms were used to meet consumer demand despite a lack of scientific substantiation or infrastructure for degradation.

• Mobil Chemical Company faced lawsuits from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general in seven states—Minnesota, California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Wisconsin, and Texas—for deceptive advertising of its 'degradable' Hefty garbage bags.
• The legal challenge centered on the fact that while Hefty bags were photodegradable and broke down in sunlight, they remained intact for many years in landfills where sunlight is limited, misleading consumers about the product's environmental benefit.
• Environmental groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), argued that degradable plastics could hinder source reduction and recycling efforts by creating a false belief that plastic simply disappears, and that additives in these plastics could contaminate pure resins during recycling.

APA

Spears, M., & Larson, A. (1992). MOBIL CHEMICAL CORPORATION. World Resources Institute. https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-155-1_full_version_english.pdf

Chicago

Spears, Mark, and Andrea Larson. MOBIL CHEMICAL CORPORATION. World Resources Institute, 1992. https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-155-1_full_version_english.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Spears |first1=Mark |last2=Larson |first2=Andrea |title=MOBIL CHEMICAL CORPORATION |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=1992 |url=https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-155-1_full_version_english.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{spears1992mobil, author = {Spears, Mark and Larson, Andrea}, title = {{MOBIL CHEMICAL CORPORATION}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {1992}, url = {https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-155-1_full_version_english.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }