Hefty's blue and clear "Recycling" bags promised to carry your conscience along with your cans. There was just one problem, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes: Arizona's municipal recycling facilities do not accept soft plastic bags, and the bags could jam sorting equipment or send otherwise recyclable loads to the landfill. The packaging said recycling; the curbside reality said otherwise.
Mayes sued Reynolds Consumer Products in August 2025 over the allegedly deceptive packaging — boxes plastered with the word "RECYCLING" and images of bags brimming with bottles and paper, language like "perfect for all your recycling needs." The complaint alleged the whole presentation misled consumers into paying a premium for bags that could not be recycled in Arizona at all.
The settlement: Reynolds agreed to pay 212,000 dollars — 30,000 dollars in consumer restitution, 157,000 dollars to the state, and 25,000 dollars in costs and attorneys' fees. More importantly, the company agreed to redesign the packaging nationwide, stripping the recycling imagery and printing, in so many words, "These Bags Are Not Recyclable" on the front of the box.
Reynolds also agreed not to market bags as "recycling" bags in Arizona unless a substantial majority of the state's municipal recycling facilities actually accept them. The claim deadline for Arizona purchasers who filed complaints was October 1, 2026.
It is a textbook greenwashing case, and a rare one with a happy-ish ending: the company that told you its bags were green now has to print the opposite on the box. Your move, recycling bin.
The greenwashing angle is what makes this one sting. Consumers paid a premium because the packaging told an environmental story that the curbside bins could not fulfill — and the bags may have done active harm by gumming up the recycling stream. It turns out the most recyclable thing about the settlement is the lesson: when the box says recycling, read the fine print.