Earth Island Institute Reaches Settlement with Danone in Landmark Plastic Pollution Lawsuit

“Earth Island is pleased to reach an amicable resolution with Danone, and for Danone’s agreement to support initiatives and efforts to reduce plastic waste in California.”

Berkeley, CA — Earth Island Institute (Earth Island) has reached a settlement with Danone North America in its ongoing litigation against major food, beverage, and consumer goods companies for its role in the global plastic pollution crisis. The lawsuit, filed in 2020 in California state court, alleges that companies should be held accountable for the plastic waste they produce, much of which ends up polluting oceans, waterways, and communities. The case is currently scheduled to go to trial in May 2026.

As part of the resolution, Danone has agreed to support initiatives and efforts to reduce plastic waste in California. Additionally, Danone has agreed to add an educational statement to its website informing consumers of the current limitations of plastic recycling. The statement also points consumers to the website for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, which reads:

“According to EPA data from 2018, approximately 29.1% of PET bottles & jars were recycled across the United States. In 2018, the EPA opined that 99% of all plastic is made from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels. It acknowledged that existing forms of mechanical recycling diminish the quality of plastic with each recycling attempt, although work is being done to try to find ways in which recycling might restore this quality. Unrecycled plastic can end up in landfills, waterways, and the ocean.”

The statement further notes that according to the EPA, a lot of the plastic bottles consumers put in the recycling bin never actually get recycled, but end up as garbage on the land and in the waterways.

Tyson Redenbarger, a partner with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, Earth Island’s counsel, stated, “Earth Island is pleased to reach an amicable resolution with Danone, and for Danone’s agreement to support initiatives and efforts to reduce plastic waste in California.”

For forty years, Earth Island, a leading nonprofit environmental organization based in Berkeley, California, has been developing programs and supporting projects that counteract threats to the planet’s biological and cultural diversity. Earth Island also plays a leading role in efforts to fight plastic pollution and protect our oceans, coasts, and marine life.

Earth Island has filed this case in its own right and on behalf of the following sponsored projects:

• Plastic Pollution Coalition is a non-profit communications and advocacy organization that collaborates with an extensive global alliance of organizations, businesses, and individuals to create a more just, equitable, regenerative world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts.
• The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) is one of the leading groups fighting to protect dolphins, whales, and the ocean environment from plastic pollution. The ingestion of plastic packaging often impacts the health of marine life. IMMP published a comprehensive report, entitled The Plastics Plague: Marine Mammals and Our Oceans in Peril, on plastic pollution impacts on dolphins, whales, seals, and sea lions that are dying from plastic ingestion and washing up on shores around the world.
• Shark Stewards works on the front lines of marine cleanup efforts and records observations firsthand of the ubiquitous presence of plastics that are trashing our shorelines and ocean environments, impacting fish and other marine life. The organization aims to help restore ocean health by organizing youth and participating in cleanup programs, by saving sharks from overfishing and the shark fin trade, and by protecting critical marine habitat through the establishment of marine protected areas and shark sanctuaries.

Earth Island’s lawsuit is ongoing against the remaining defendants, which include some of the largest global producers of plastic packaging. Earth Island is represented by Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy, a nationally-recognized plaintiffs’ firm.

For more information about the lawsuit, visit:

https://www.earthisland.org/index.php/advocates/suit/taking-on-big-plastic

Media Contact:

Sumona Majumdar, CEO, Earth Island Institute, sumona@earthisland.org, 510-859-9120