WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 18, 2024--
Origin Materials (“Origin”) (NASDAQ: ORGN, ORGNW), a technology company with a mission to enable the world’s transition to sustainable materials, today announced the production of PET caps with new features as commercial qualification continues. The latest caps were produced at our partner’s facility in Germany on Origin’s CapFormer System, its proprietary system for manufacturing recyclable PET closures. The caps, made with recycled PET and designed for compatibility with the PCO 1881 standard, incorporate new features requested by customers following the successful factory acceptance test of the CapFormer System in September.
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“The team has been working hard as we approach the end of the year, and we’ve stayed close to our prospective customers every step of the way. As a result, we decided to add a few key new features to our PET caps—chiefly, knurling,” said John Bissell, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Origin Materials. “Knurls improve the grip of the caps, making for a very comfortable consumer experience. The market spoke, and we listened. I am proud of our team’s agility in making it happen.”
The Origin CapFormer System is now being prepared for shipment to Reed City, Michigan, for installation. Further cap production is anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
“There are two primary advantages for producing these latest caps in Europe, before shipping the CapFormer System to its final home in Reed City,” said Bissell. “One, it lets us perform customer qualification while we ship the system. By working in parallel, we can go faster. Two, it enabled us to work very tightly with our European equipment partners while adding these new features, making for more efficient implementation.”
Bissell added: “Having added knurls and made a few other product refinements, such as changes that help our caps integrate better into existing capping machines and bottling lines, we’re now able to expand our customer qualification efforts. We’ve shipped the new caps for commercial qualification and our momentum with prospective customers remains strong and continues to build. In fact, today we’re happy to announce a new signed customer term sheet, alongside our previously announced MOU for over $100 million in PET caps over an initial two-year term. We are working hard to complete these qualifications so that Origin can begin fulfilling the awaiting customer demand.”
About Origin Materials
Origin is a technology company with a mission to enable the world’s transition to sustainable materials. Our innovations include PET caps and closures that bring recycling circularity and enhanced performance to a ~$65 billion market, specialty materials, and our patented biomass conversion platform that transforms carbon into sustainable materials for a wide range of end products. For more information, visit www.originmaterials.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “target,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, timing to start producing PET caps, continued momentum with prospective customers, ability to expand qualification efforts and integrate our caps into existing capping machines and bottling lines, performance and recycling benefits of the Company’s PET caps, compatibility with PCO 1881 standard, and consumer experience with those caps. The forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current plans, objectives, estimates, expectations, and intentions of the management of Origin and are not predictions of actual performance and inherently involve significant risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Origin. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the fact that Origin Materials may be unable to successfully commercialize its products; the effects of competition on Origin Materials’ business; the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Origin; disruptions and other impacts to Origin’s business. Other factors that could adversely affect the transactions described above and the Company’s operations include those discussed in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 14, 2024 under the heading “Risk Factors,” and other documents Origin has filed, or will file, with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Origin Materials presently does not know, or that Origin currently believes are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Origin Beverage Caps Made with Recycled PET (Photo: Business Wire)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The kids seen by Dolores Mejia around suburban Phoenix have been growing heavier in recent years. Their parents, too, she says.
Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she's also had her own weight struggles on the scale.
That's why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” as he campaigned alongside Donald Trump caught her attention. She liked the questions Kennedy raised about the role of processed foods in America's obesity epidemic.
“I’m a junk food person," said Mejia, an ardent Trump supporter. “I started wondering where those extra pounds came from.”
After hearing Kennedy out, she concluded: “We cannot trust the health organizations we’ve trusted for years to tell us that our foods are safe.”
Republicans such as Mejia have embraced Kennedy, whose alliance with the president-elect could make the prominent environmentalist and vaccine skeptic the nation’s top health official next year. Republicans hold an overwhelmingly positive view of Kennedy, with most approving of Trump’s decision to put him in his administration, according to recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in the 2024 presidential election.
But Americans overall are less positive about Kennedy, and there isn't broad support for some of his views, which include closer scrutiny of vaccines.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy will be charged with leading the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1.7 trillion agency that researches cancer, approves prescription drugs and provides health insurance for roughly half the country.
About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Kennedy’s appointment to Trump's Cabinet and only about 1 in 10 disapprove, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in December, while the rest aren't familiar with him or didn't have an opinion.
Kennedy's talk of healthy foods is what captured the attention of Natalie Moralez, a 32-year-old engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who identifies as an independent.
She likes his promises to take on powerful companies. And she's eager to see him challenge the ingredients they use in the food she finds on supermarket shelves.
“Even just buying foods from the grocery store, like what else is in there?” Moralez said. “That’s my main concern, and hopefully he can figure out what the underlying issues are and see if we can do better.”
Kennedy doesn't fare as well among Americans overall, with about 4 in 10 U.S. adults disapproving and about 3 in 10 approving of his appointment.
Although Kennedy is a member of one of the most powerful Democratic dynasties in the country, most Democrats said they don't like that he's been named to Trump's Cabinet. About 6 in 10 Democrats “strongly disapprove” of the pick, the December poll found. That's a higher share of disapproval than other high-profile picks such as Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary or Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
Kennedy started his career as an environmental lawyer and won big lawsuits against companies over the chemicals used in weed killers and heavy metal smelters.
But in recent years, he's attracted a sizable and loyal following over his claims that vaccines, recommended and championed by the nation's public health agencies, are dangerous. That's despite decades of research, laboratory testing and real-world use that shows childhood vaccinations have prevented millions of deaths.
“There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” Kennedy said on a podcast in July 2023. During a Fox News interview the same year, he said he believes a repeatedly discredited idea that vaccines can cause autism. In recent days, Trump has increasingly suggested that the link between autism and vaccines should be studied — although decades of research has already concluded there is no connection between the two.
Trump and Kennedy allies have promised not to take away vaccines, instead saying they oppose government mandates and want to conduct more research on the vaccines.
But about half of voters want the government to be more involved in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases, according to AP VoteCast.
About one-quarter said the government’s current involvement on this is “about right,” and only about 2 in 10 wanted the government to be less involved. But parents of school-age children were somewhat more likely to support a smaller government role: Roughly 3 in 10 parents of children under 18 wanted the government less involved, compared with about 2 in 10 voters without children under 18.
Among Trump’s voters, about one-third wanted the government less involved in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases.
A similar share wanted the government more involved, and about 3 in 10 said its involvement was about right. Roughly 4 in 10 Trump voters who are parents of children under 18 said they want the government less involved in ensuring children are vaccinated, while about one-third said they wanted it more involved.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
People who voted in the presidential race this November held divided views on Kennedy, according to AP VoteCast.
Kennedy had dropped out of the presidential race by that point, throwing his support behind Trump, but remained on the ballot in some states.
About 4 in 10 voters had a very or somewhat favorable opinion of Kennedy, and roughly 4 in 10 had a very or somewhat unfavorable view. Slightly more than 1 in 10 did not know enough about Kennedy to have an opinion.
Republican voters — about two-thirds — were more likely to hold a favorable view of Kennedy, much higher than the roughly 2 in 10 Democrats who viewed him positively. Meanwhile, about 7 in 10 Democrats had a negative opinion of Kennedy, with about half saying they had a “very unfavorable” view.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec. 5-9, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
AP VoteCast was a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for Fox News, PBS NewsHour, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. The survey of more than 120,000 voters was conducted for eight days, concluding as polls closed. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The survey combines a random sample of registered voters drawn from state voter files; self-identified registered voters using NORC’s probability based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population; and self-identified registered voters selected from nonprobability online panels. The margin of sampling error for voters overall is estimated to be plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. Find more details about AP VoteCast’s methodology at https://ap.org/votecast.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, walks to meet with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, waves to the media as he rides the train to go to meet with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Robert Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, meets with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Robert Kennedy Jr., second from right, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, rides the Capitol subway as he travels between meetings with senators on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Robert Kennedy Jr., right, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, meets with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, center, walks to meet with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Robert Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, walks between meetings with senators on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, waves to the media as he rides the train to go to meet with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump greets Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at a Turning Point Action campaign rally, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
