PHOENIX — A major manufacturer of large plastic bags has agreed to redesign its box to end a consumer fraud lawsuit filed against it by the state.
In the first settlement of its kind in the nation, Reynolds Consumer Products will remove any references from its boxes that its bags are "recyclable.'' In fact, the design the company has agreed to use will have, right on the front, "these bags are not recyclable.''
The current box being used by Reynolds on the left and the design to which the company has approved on the right.
The company also has agreed to pay a $157,000 fine to the Attorney General's Office and pick up $25,000 in legal fees.
And Reynolds also has set aside $30,000 for restitution to consumers who bought the bags only to find that their communities did not accept them for recycling. But they would have to take the step of filing a complaint with the AG's office before Oct. 1, 2026.
Any money left over would go to the AG's office.
It's not unusual for Attorney General Kris Mayes to file lawsuits against companies she says whose advertising practices mislead consumers. These usually lead to a company agreeing to a fine and agreeing to change how it promotes its products or services.
What makes this one different is that Reynolds will actually modify the boxes that the company uses to sell its large blue and clear plastic bags to point out to consumers that despite what it may look like — and despite prior box designs claiming the bags were recyclable — that is not the case.
It also requires Reynolds to stop using a picture of one of its bags filled with recyclable cans.
Mayes, in filing suit, said that image — even without an actual claim the bags are recyclable — leads to an inference that they are.
"It's all wrapped up and it's closed up,'' Mayes said. "And that suggests that the person could just toss that thing into the recycling bin when, in fact, you can't and you shouldn't because doing so messes with the recycling machine at the city.''
Now, only empty bags will be displayed.
And there's one other change to which Reynolds has agreed: It will use a blue background behind some of the wording rather than green, a color generally linked to environmental benefits.
All that, according to the settlement, will cost the company at least $80,000 and take about 18 months to roll out nationwide. And Reynolds has agreed to use the redesigned box "until the bags are accepted for recycling at a substantial majority of the recycling facilities within the state of Arizona.''
But the deal, in which the company admits no wrongdoing, also does not require Reynolds to recall or remove any of the existing boxes from shelves.
The lawsuit stems from years of how Reynolds marketed the bags, including years where it actually labeled them as "recycling bags.'' Mayes said that was deceptive because it induced environmentally conscious Arizonans to purchase them.
That wasn't all. She said there were people who believed what the company was telling them who bought and used the bags -- bags that ended up causing problems when the they became entangled in the equipment used to sort recyclables, shutting down the facility.
"Arizonans believed they were doing the right thing buying these bags and they paid a premium for these so-called recycling bags when, in fact, they were paying for something that harmed out ability to recycle,'' Mayes told Capitol Media Services when she filed the lawsuit last year. "When you try to put these bags into recycling it often messes with the recycling equipment at the different recycling facilities.''
She said any plastic that is not manually removed from recycled materials before it goes into sorting gets "entangled in the sorting equipment, forcing the material recovery facility to shut down,'' Mayes said. She said one one firm in Phoenix has to shut downs several times a day to disentangle plastic bags, "costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and endangering the workers who must do the disentanglements.''
While Reynolds admits no wrongdoing, the settlement does allow the state to reopen the case if the company does not live up to its terms.
