Katie Pyzyk reports for WasteDive
The company had hoped a California judge would dismiss a complaint claiming its “recyclable” labels are misleading.
A federal judge in California recently ruled that a class action lawsuit against Keurig Green Mountain Inc. — one with interesting implications for recyclability claims about new product streams —can move forward.
The lawsuit was proposed by a California consumer who says the company (now Keurig Dr Pepper) made false claims about its coffee pods’ recyclability, namely that their size, composition, and lack of an end market renders them unrecyclable. The suit points out that while the pods are made of polypropylene — a plastic (#5) accepted for recycling in about 61% of communities nationwide — most domestic MRFs aren’t capable of capturing such small, light materials from the recycling stream.
According to the lawsuit, Keurig adds to the problem by telling consumers they need not remove the pods’ paper filters before recycling. This creates a source of contamination, as it does for numerous other products made from multiple materials that are recyclable only when segregated, including paper envelopes lined with bubble wrap and aluminum cans with plastic shrink wrap sleeves.
Keurig had hoped the lawsuit would be dismissed on the grounds that advertising and labels for the coffee pods encourage consumers to “check locally” about whether the pods are recyclable. It claimed consumers would understand the items aren’t recyclable in all markets, despite being labeled as recyclable. The judge, however, found this defense to be lacking because consumers allege the pods aren’t recyclable through any MRF in the country, so telling them to “check locally” doesn’t make Keurig’s recyclability claims true.
“[C]ommon sense would not so clearly lead a person to believe that a package labeled ‘recyclable’ is not recyclable anywhere,” U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam wrote in the ruling. “[A]lthough Keurig argues that its labeling is sufficient under the Green Guides… the complaint alleges facts that indicate the opposite.”
The Green Guides are the Federal Trade Commission’s advice on the types of marketing claims manufacturers can make about their products’ recyclability. The goal is to prevent manufacturers from making deceptive or overtly false claims. A key part of the Green Guides is a section commonly referred to as the “60% access rule” – companies can make unqualified claims about a product’s recyclability only when a substantial majority (60%) of customers or communities where the item is sold have access to recycling facilities accepting the material. In other words, while a product may technically be recyclable, it won’t necessarily be considered as such in regions without adequate processing or sorting infrastructure.
