Philly sues Ziploc’s and bread brands’ parent companies over ‘misleading’ recycling symbols

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The city of Philadelphia is suing two companies, saying they fool consumers into believing their plastic bags are recyclable.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas claims Bimbo Bakeries, the company that owns Thomas’, Arnold and Sara Lee bread, and SC Johnson, the parent company of Ziploc, use the chasing arrows recycling symbol in reference to their Ziploc and bread bags, despite knowing these bags are rarely recycled. The lawsuit calls these symbols “misleading at best” and seeks to have the company fined for their use.

“People are trying to do the right thing,” said Philadelphia City Solicitor Renee Garcia. “They’re trying to make their community safer, cleaner and greener … but people are being deceived. People are being deceived on how to get rid of their product.”

The lawsuit is the first the city has filed under the new consumer protection ordinance that Mayor Cherelle Parker signed into law last year, Garcia said.

Film plastic, such as flexible plastic bread bags, plastic grocery bags or Ziploc bags, is not recycled in Philadelphia. Instead, it ends up littering city streets, being burned in incinerators or clogging landfills.

Film plastic gets caught in the machinery that sorts Philadelphia’s recyclables, slowing down the process and endangering employees. Bags must be removed from this process and disposed of alongside trash, officials said.

“It’s very unlikely to be able to be bailed and actually recycled, in the sense of going into another consumer product,” said William Shuey, a senior attorney in the city’s Law Department.

But Philadelphians wouldn’t know this from looking at Bimbo Bakeries’ or SC Johnson’s packaging, the lawsuit claims. It says the two companies use the chasing arrows recycling symbol and a symbol that directs customers to recycle the bags at in-store drop-off sites, which also often send bags to landfills.

“Companies like SC [Johnson] and Bimbo are deliberately tricking consumers into thinking that they can buy Ziploc’s or Bimbo’s plastic bags without contributing to plastic waste or other related environmental harms because those products can (at least in theory) be recycled,” the complaint reads.

The lawsuit claims that while plastic bags are “theoretically” recyclable, there is “no end market” for recycled plastic bags.

The two companies have each acknowledged that plastic film is not recyclable, the lawsuit claims, with Bimbo even referring to plastic packaging as “non-recyclable” on its website.

If the lawsuit is successful, Garcia said the fines can be assessed per item sold in Philadelphia under the city’s consumer protection law.

“In the end, we want these companies to stop using this plastic film,” Garcia said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Bimbo Bakeries said the company is “committed to zero waste across our operations, including consumer packaging, and to being a strong partner in every community we serve, especially our hometown of Philadelphia.”

Bimbo Bakeries had not yet been served a copy of the complaint, the spokesperson said, but the company will “review it upon receipt.”

SC Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.