Minnesota
Minnesota Settles ‘Deceptive Environmental Marketing’ Lawsuit Over ‘Recycling’ Plastic Bags – Inside Climate News
Walmart and Reynolds Consumer Products have agreed to stop selling certain plastic bags in Minnesota for two and a half years, after the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, argued in court that the companies had falsely marketed them as recyclable.
Reynolds makes the blue or clear 13- and 30-gallon-sized Hefty-brand plastic bags that Ellison targeted in the lawsuit, filed in June 2023 in Ramsey County District Court. The lawsuit also made similar claims against 13-, 30- and 33-gallon bags sold under Walmart’s Great Value brand.
If Walmart or Reynolds resume selling the bags after the moratorium, they must be labeled as non-recyclable, according to the settlement agreements with Walmart and Reynolds reached Thursday.
The two companies have agreed to pay a collective total of $216,670, which includes 100 percent of the profits they made in selling the bags, the state’s attorney fees and other monetary relief, according to a press release from Ellison’s office.
Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.
“Defendants shall establish and enforce marketing claims legal review processes and provide anti-greenwashing trainings to their marketing teams at least annually,” according to the settlement document.
In a written statement, Reynolds said: “We believe these claims lack merit, but are pleased to put this matter behind us. We remain committed to our sustainability mission to develop innovative products and solutions that simplify daily life and protect the environment.”
A Walmart spokeswoman declined to comment on the settlement.
“Minnesotans have one of the highest recycling rates in America because we love our clean land, air, and water,” Ellison said in the press release.


“I’m pleased that Reynolds and Walmart, who profited from Minnesotans’ good intentions, have agreed to stop marketing so-called ‘recycling’ bags to us that can’t be recycled and will disgorge the profits they made off those bags,” he said. “Any other companies thinking about greenwashing their products to market them deceptively to Minnesotans should know by now that I will not hesitate to hold them accountable under the law.”
The Minnesota lawsuit is among nearly four dozen filed since 2015, mostly by citizens or environmental groups, that target the plastics industry, according to a plastics litigation tracker at The New York University School of Law.
But more recently, attorneys general in Connecticut, Minnesota and New York have raised the stakes with their own plastics lawsuits, bringing with them considerable legal firepower.
The litigation comes amid a rapidly expanding body of scientific knowledge detailing how burgeoning plastics production and plastic waste damage the planet and threaten public health.
Plastics are made with thousands of chemicals and were never designed to be recycled. Recycling rates in the United States are thought to be less than 10 percent. Bags are among the harder items to recycle, and their film-like and flimsy nature can clog recycling equipment.
Ellison had argued that Walmart’s and Reynolds’ marketing had violated state laws that prohibit false statements in advertising, deceptive environmental marketing and consumer fraud. The settlement agreement included a provision that it should not be considered an admission of guilt or violation by the defendants.
The lawsuit showed photos of marketing that Ellison claimed were intended to falsely persuade Minnesotans that the bags were meant for use during recycling and could be recycled. Some of them were a blue color associated with some recycling programs and included a declaration that those were “intended for use in municipal recycling programs where applicable,” according to the lawsuit.
Certain clear bags, the lawsuit claimed, were identified as “transparent for quick sorting and curbside identification.” Reynolds also prominently placed the all-caps word “RECYCLING” on the front label of Hefty “Recycling” trash bags, with packaging that showed an image of a clear bag filled with plastic and these words, the lawsuit alleged: “HEFTY RECYCLING BAGS ARE PERFECT FOR ALL YOUR RECYCLING NEEDS.”
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Minnesota
Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected
Minnesota
Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.
It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.
“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”
Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.
Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.
“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”
Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.
Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.
“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.
A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.
Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.
One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.
Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”
“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.
“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.
Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.
As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.
Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.
Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.
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