Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is spearheading a multistate coalition of attorneys general targeting three major environmental organizations: the U.S. Plastics Pact, the Consumer Goods Forum, and the Green Blue Institute, for allegedly coordinating with U.S. corporations to impose anticompetitive recycling practices that possibly violate state and federal antitrust laws.
"Radical environmental activists do not have the right, nor the avenue, to suppress business operations in our market," Uthmeier said in a release.
Other attorneys general involved in the inquiry include Texas's Ken Paxton, Iowa's Brenna Bird, Nebraska's Mike Hilgers, and Montana's Austin Knudsen.
All three letters can be viewed here: U.S. Plastics Pact, Consumer Goods Forum, and the Green Blue Institute.
"We have reason to believe that the policies of the Consumer Goods Forum, the Green Blue Institute, and the U.S. Plastics Pact are hindering states' economic prosperity by coordinating business behavior, which would constitute violations of Florida's antitrust laws," Uthmeier continued. "We will not allow these activist organizations to push misguided policies that can't win at the ballot box and inflate prices for Florida consumers."
According to Uthmeier, all three organizations are accused of "pushing major corporations to align on restrictive plastic production and packaging standards," activities he says could have restrained competition, hiked costs, and limited consumer choice.
"By collectively dictating what materials are deemed 'recyclable' and setting uniform production and packaging targets, these groups appear to have distorted product quality and driven up prices for consumers," the release states.
Uthmeier, along with the other attorneys general in the letters, has asked all three organizations to illustrate how their coordinated market activities match with state and federal antitrust laws, along with subsequent documentation.
Uthmeier also warned that the practices raise "serious concerns about collusion and market manipulation," noting that the probe by his office could take several months to uncover whether the groups "unfairly benefited certain corporations or misled consumers about the true costs and impacts of their so-called 'sustainable' packaging goals."
