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 co-chairs the firm’s global Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice. She advises clients in their strategic and proactive engagement with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Congress, the California Privacy Protection Agency, and state attorneys general on proposed changes to data protection…

Lindsey Tonsager co-chairs the firm’s global Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice. She advises clients in their strategic and proactive engagement with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Congress, the California Privacy Protection Agency, and state attorneys general on proposed changes to data protection laws, and regularly represents clients in responding to investigations and enforcement actions involving their privacy and information security practices.

Lindsey’s practice focuses on helping clients launch new products and services that implicate the laws governing the use of artificial intelligence, data processing for connected devices, biometrics, online advertising, endorsements and testimonials in advertising and social media, the collection of personal information from children and students online, e-mail marketing, disclosures of video viewing information, and new technologies.

Lindsey also assesses privacy and data security risks in complex corporate transactions where personal data is a critical asset or data processing risks are otherwise material. In light of a dynamic regulatory environment where new state, federal, and international data protection laws are always on the horizon and enforcement priorities are shifting, she focuses on designing risk-based, global privacy programs for clients that can keep pace with evolving legal requirements and efficiently leverage the clients’ existing privacy policies and practices. She conducts data protection assessments to benchmark against legal requirements and industry trends and proposes practical risk mitigation measures.