September 24, 2025
Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa USA
Philadelphia is suing Bimbo Bakeries, which makes Thomas' English muffins and other foods, and S.C. Johnson & Son, a household supply manufacturer. The lawsuit claims the companies deceptively market their packaging as recyclable. The photo above is a sign outside of a Thomas' English muffins bakery in Frederick, Maryland.
Philadelphia is suing two major manufacturers for allegedly mislabeling plastic bags as recyclable.
Bimbo Bakeries, a bakery product manufacturer with its U.S. headquarters in Horsham, Montgomery County, and S.C. Johnson & Son, a household supply manufacturer, have engaged in "parallel deceptive marketing," leading consumers to think they can buy the companies' products without contributing to plastic waste, according to a lawsuit the city filed Tuesday in the Court of Common Pleas with co-counsel Hausfeld LLP, a Philadelphia firm.
Language and symbols – including the chasing arrows symbol – used on Bimbo's plastic film bread bags and on S.C. Johnson's Ziploc bag packaging "is profoundly misleading at best," the lawsuit says. "Even if it is theoretically possible to recycle plastic bags under limited circumstances, technical and economic realities foreseeably make it so that no matter how hard consumers try to recycle those plastic bags, those bags will nevertheless almost always go to waste."
Bimbo brands include Thomas', Sara Lee, Entenmann's, Arnold, Freihofer's and Stroehmann Pennsylvania Dutch Bakers. S.C. Johnson has owned the Ziploc brand since 1998, according to the lawsuit.
The city is seeking injunctions against the companies to revise their labels related to recycling, and suing for an undisclosed amount of damages.
Bimbo said in an emailed statement that it is "committed to zero waste across our operations, including consumer packaging, and to being a strong partner in every community we serve, especially our hometown of Philadelphia."
The company had not yet been served with the complaint and would review it upon receipt, Bimbo said.
S.C. Johnson & Son did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit says the companies are misleading consumers into thinking that if they recycle the plastic bags, they will be made into new products.
"Companies that label their products with the goal of implying their product is recyclable when it isn't are not just breaking the law, but they are violating public trust and contributing to waste," Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a press release.
Philadelphia banned all single-use plastic bags and non-recyclable paper bags in 2019 in an effort to reduce waste and save money. Residents used nearly 1 billion plastic bags a year — bags that littered local streets and waterways and got caught in recycling plant machinery, creating dangerous conditions, according to the city.
"Largely due to manufacturers' deceptive statements to consumers that they can recycle plastic bags, plastic film is the number one contaminant causing problems for Philadelphia's municipal recycling system," the lawsuit says.
