World’s first tethered PET beverage cap designed for improved recycling circularity

Origin Materials, the world’s leading carbon negative materials company with a mission to enable the world’s transition to sustainable materials, today announced another innovation in its PET caps and closures portfolio: the world’s first tethered PET cap.

“Cap tethering mandates are coming into effect later this year in Europe through the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive. Further mandates are anticipated around the world,” said John Bissell, Origin co-founder and Co-CEO. “Tethered caps are designed to stay connected to the container and thereby improve cap collection rates for recycling. We have already seen strong demand for our tethered caps, which we have developed in conjunction with our PET caps and closures initiative, while the regulatory environment continues to evolve and incentivize tethered solutions.”

The new tethered cap complements Origin’s previously announced PET closure, which is the world’s lightest CSD (carbonated soft drink) cap compatible with the PCO 1881 neck finish. Our PCO 1881-compatible cap is the first of its kind ever to be commercially produced with 100% PET. Origin PET caps, including our tethered cap, may be produced with any kind of PET material, whether it’s virgin PET, recycled PET (rPET), or bio-based PET.

Bissell continued: “Cap tethering is poised to transform beverage packaging and we are well-positioned to lead in this arena. First, whether tethered or not, our PET caps offer better performance than traditional HDPE and polypropylene caps, extending product shelf life and enabling light-weighting. Second, our technology enables mono-material tethered PET products, meaning cap and container are both PET and can be recycled together seamlessly with no need to separate the two material streams, offering clear advantages when tethering. Third, more PET in the recycling stream means higher value bales of recycled material, which is good for recyclers and increases the supply of recycled PET. Fourth, our solution can expand the use of recycled content – specifically recycled PET – something global beverage brands are eager to do,” he said.

Origin’s first-of-its-kind, high-throughput production system will make the world’s first PET caps and closures at commercial scale. The PCO 1881-compatible caps will be available beginning in Q4 2024, with PCO 1881-compatible tethered caps to follow afterward. The same products were recently showcased at NPE2024.