Last week, the California Attorney General brought its first suit under California’s environmental marketing law, which restricts the labeling of plastic food or beverage containers as “biodegradable.” The Attorney General claims that a plastics company’s statements that its microbial additive results in the “first truly biodegradable and recyclable” plastic bottle and that the bottle will break down in less than five years in a typical landfill or compost environment is false because it takes hundreds of years for plastics to biodegrade.  In addition, the Attorney General claims that the company’s recycling claim is deceptive because the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers considers the company’s microbial additive to be a “destructive contaminant” that can weaken the bottle’s strength.  The company has responded that it stands by its technology and it claims.

The law, which will expand to cover all plastic products beginning in 2013, could discourage companies from developing innovative environmental solutions, since the law effectively prohibits companies from making certain environmental claims about their products. 

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Photo of Lindsey Tonsager Lindsey Tonsager

Lindsey Tonsager helps national and multinational clients in a broad range of industries anticipate and effectively evaluate legal and reputational risks under federal and state data privacy and communications laws.

In addition to assisting clients engage strategically with the Federal Trade Commission, the…

Lindsey Tonsager helps national and multinational clients in a broad range of industries anticipate and effectively evaluate legal and reputational risks under federal and state data privacy and communications laws.

In addition to assisting clients engage strategically with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Congress, and other federal and state regulators on a proactive basis, she has experience helping clients respond to informal investigations and enforcement actions, including by self-regulatory bodies such as the Digital Advertising Alliance and Children’s Advertising Review Unit.

Ms. Tonsager’s practice focuses on helping clients launch new products and services that implicate the laws governing the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising and social media, the collection of personal information from children and students online, behavioral advertising, e-mail marketing, artificial intelligence the processing of “big data” in the Internet of Things, spectrum policy, online accessibility, compulsory copyright licensing, telecommunications and new technologies.

Ms. Tonsager also conducts privacy and data security diligence in complex corporate transactions and negotiates agreements with third-party service providers to ensure that robust protections are in place to avoid unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of customer data and other types of confidential information. She regularly assists clients in developing clear privacy disclosures and policies―including website and mobile app disclosures, terms of use, and internal social media and privacy-by-design programs.