State Attorney General Letitia James and Buffalo representatives chose the Canalside boardwalk to announce a lawsuit against PepsiCo Inc. for polluting the Buffalo River with its single-use plastic packaging.
The river has been the subject of a yearslong investigation by the AG’s office and Western New York environmental group Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper that showed packaging from PepsiCo products is the most prevalent form of plastics pollution in and along the river, James said at a news conference Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday claims that PepsiCo has failed to warn consumers about the risks of single-use plastic packaging and has misled consumers and the public about its efforts to reduce plastic pollution, James said.
“Pepsi claims they are reducing production of new plastics, but rather than make good on those pledges, it keeps increasing its use of new plastics year after year,” James said.
“Since plastic does not degrade, it fragments into tiny particles called microplastics that contaminate our ecosystems and wildlife. But they are also so small they filter through water treatment systems and into our drinking water,” she said.
James said the lawsuit is aimed at holding a multinational company accountable for plastics pollution originated in Buffalo. She praised the efforts of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, which has been deeply involved in the Buffalo River restoration and Canalside revitalization, only to see plastics continue to threaten the waterfront.
PepsiCo did not reply to a request for comment from The Buffalo News as of Wednesday afternoon.
From 2013 to 2022, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper found that 78% of all waste its staff and volunteers picked up in the Buffalo River watershed was plastic. A nationwide study by Break Free From Plastic classified more than 2 million items of plastic waste from 2,373 sites between 2018 and 2022, and in each year determined that PepsiCo was either the No. 1 or No….
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