Arizona AG settles with Hefty parent company over packaging implying bags were recyclable

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes reached a settlement with Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc., the parent company of garbage bag producer Hefty, after packaging suggested bags were recyclable when they were not and were instead potentially damaging for recycling facilities.

Packaging had depicted recyclable materials, such as cans, inside the bag with no verbiage warning the bags were not able to be recycled.

The updated packaging will show the bag empty with “These bags are not recyclable” on the front of the box. It also will change a green label noting the blue color of the bag to a matching blue label.

“Companies should not be able to exploit Arizonans’ well-meaning desire to protect the environment,” Mayes said in a Monday press release. “We won’t allow companies to mislead consumers and imply products sold in our state are recyclable unless they can actually be recycled in Arizona.”

Reynolds had made incremental improvements following lawsuits in other states, but this is the first change to bring about explicit verbiage on the box that they are not recyclable.

According to the court ruling, bags cannot be marketed as recyclable “unless a substantial majority of municipalities within the state actually accept the bags for recycling.”

Reynolds will be forced to pay $30,000 in restitution and $25,000 in costs and attorneys’ fees in addition to a $157,000 payment to the state, totaling $212,000.

Arizona consumers who purchased bags with the misleading packaging have until Oct. 1 to file a complaint online and be considered for restitution.

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