California Attorney General Rob Bonta, shown in Sacramento in February, announced an investigation into petrochemical manufacturers on Thursday because of the pollution caused by their products.

SACRAMENTO — California will investigate oil and chemical companies over what state officials described as the industry’s role in fueling the global plastic pollution crisis, including allegations that they have deliberately misled consumers to believe plastic products were recyclable when they were not.

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the investigation — the first of its kind in the U.S. — Thursday morning during a news conference at a youth community center along an often-littered stretch of beach in Los Angeles. He said the plastics industry has falsely claimed that its products can be recycled when the vast majority of plastic actually isn’t reusable and typically winds up in landfills or pollutes the ocean and other waterways.

“In California and across the globe, we are seeing the catastrophic results of the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of deception,” Bonta said as he stood behind clear trash bags stuffed with plastic waste from the beach. “The big oil executives, they knew the truth. The truth is the vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled.”

Bonta said the state’s investigation will determine what laws, if any, petrochemical and oil companies might have violated with their claims about plastic recycling. He stressed that the amount of plastic used worldwide has skyrocketed, from about 1.5 million tons annually in the 1950s to more than 300 million tons today.

Plastic trash collects Ballona Creek in in Culver City (Los Angeles County) after a rainstorm. The state will investigate oil and petrochemical companies over what the attorney general calls their role in driving the global plastic pollution crisis.

As part of the investigation, Bonta issued a subpoena to ExxonMobil, demanding the company release documents related to its role in “deceiving the public” about whether plastic can be recycled. Plastic is created using chemicals from fossil fuels, so the industry is a significant revenue source for oil companies — and a significant source of heat-trapping emissions that fuel climate change.

ExxonMobil rejected Bonta’s assertions in a statement, saying the company supports efforts to reduce waste and has invested in a major petrochemical facility that can convert recycled plastic material into new plastic.

“We are focused on solutions and meritless allegations like these distract from the important collaborative work that is under way to enhance waste management and improve circularity,” said spokesperson Julie King.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Plastics Industry Association said California leaders need to invest more to expand the state’s recycling infrastructure to handle plastic materials more easily and educate people about how to recycle properly.

Many plastic products are marked with the chasing arrows symbol, suggesting they are recyclable. But most plastic film packaging cannot be recycled in blue curbside bins because it is a low-grade material with little reuse value.

Environmentalists say the sharp increase in plastic consumption has been aided by an industry-led marketing campaign to make consumers believe the material is reusable and eco-friendly. In reality, only about 9% of plastic worldwide is ever recycled, according to researchers at UC Santa Barbara.

“Ultimately, the plastics industry is so polluting on so many levels that it just isn’t compatible with preserving crucial ecosystems or a livable climate,” said Emily Jeffers, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans program. “We have to stop producing plastic junk.”

Soaring plastic consumption has wreaked havoc on marine habitats and the environment: More than 14 million tons of plastic flows into the ocean every year, according to a report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The waste sometimes ends up harming marine animals that ingest it, or become entangled in plastic shopping bags and other packaging — reports of whales and other sea creatures washing ashore with their bellies full of plastic began appearing in the 1970s.

Plastic pollution has also created health concerns for humans who ingest small plastic particles that winds up in food, drinking water and the air we breathe. Because plastic doesn’t biodegrade, it breaks down into microplastics that linger in the environment.

An average person is now estimated to unknowingly ingest more than 40 pounds of plastic particles over their lifetime, according to researchers at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Recent studies show that plastic has been found in human blood and lung tissue samples, and the long-term health implications are unclear.

Bonta warned the crisis will only get worse as oil companies work to expand plastic production as gasoline and fossil fuels are replaced by clean energy sources.

Bonta said the investigation is starting with ExxonMobil because it is one of the largest producers, but it could soon expand to other oil and chemical companies. He said investigators will look for internal company records that show the extent to which executives sought to mislead consumers.

In recent years, California legislators have repeatedly proposed bills to reduce the amount of single-use plastic containers and packaging consumed here. Those measures have often been defeated amid heavy opposition from business groups, which complain the bills would kill jobs and drive up costs for consumers.

But the issue could soon be in the hands of voters. Environmentalists have gathered enough signatures to put a plastic waste initiative on the November 2022 ballot. The measure would require manufacturers to make all plastic packaging recyclable or compostable by 2030.

Dustin Gardiner (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@

Dustin Gardiner is a state Capitol reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. He joined The Chronicle in 2019, after nearly a decade with The Arizona Republic, where he covered state and city politics. Dustin won several awards for his reporting in Arizona, including the 2019 John Kolbe Politics Reporting award, and the 2017 Story of the Year award from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, camping, reading fiction and playing Settlers of Catan. He's a member of NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ journalists.