Applied
DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (“Applied DNA” or the “Company”),
provides an update today on its accomplishments toward commercial-scale
production to support global material traceability for companies
declaring sustainability goals to be achieved by 2020. High on the
consumer watchlist is the plastics recycling issue. Applied DNA’s
CertainT® platform provides the evidence that recycled
product is used. CertainT-verifiable products are now available through
supply chain partners and brands, including Amazon and other e-commerce
and retail stores, with outlook for growth as product flows to store
shelves. The CertainT platform and forensic services were conceived to
empower companies with the most advanced commercially-scalable and
affordable technologies to help prove their compliance with stated
sustainability goals.
The CertainT “Tag-Test-Track platform enables companies and their supply
chains to designate a unique molecular identity tag that has meaning
specific to the tagged material: for example, geographic facility
location, brand, product line or even date of manufacture. This tag can
be applied on or in a variety of recycled materials that includes a wide
range of polymers such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate),
polypropylene, polyethylene, acrylics, and many more. The tags are then
tested either in the field or in the lab, depending on material type and
customer requirements. Portable DNA testing devices for tagged pellets
are deployed for textiles made of recycled PET and viscose. The tracking
of tagged items and their test reports can be accessed by customers from
the cloud-based CertainT Textile Portal.
Since the launch of the CertainT platform in July 2017, many companies
have recognized the value of having global material traceability, and
having the ability to prove, with certainty, the claim for 100% rPET
filament yarn used in many performance-wear, athleisure products,
footwear, accessories and home textile products. While the CertainT
platform was initially used for rPET staple fibers in the home textile
industry, there subsequently grew a much greater opportunity to expand
into apparel, footwear and accessories through rPET filament.
From 2018 ongoing, the Company is working with trusted supply chain
partners to build the large-scale, closed loop, integrated supply chains
that use rPET filament and fiber to service businesses in Asia, the
Americas and EMEA. This business model is instrumental to building
critical mass with our partners, enabling efficient, cost-effective,
agile supply chains.
“We decided to “Go Big, Go Bold” in 2019 by accelerating the
implementation of rPET filament in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, India and
South-East Asia. We believe the opportunity to have a molecular business
solution that will protect brands from source to shelf can be achieved
only with CertainT. We are in the process of building a thoroughly
integrated supply chain which will close the loop and provide forensic
proof through each touch point in the process,” stated Wayne Buchen,
vice president, strategic sales.
Specifically, the Company began with the establishment of a network of
key strategic partners, starting with the Sun Chemical Supply Group
(“Sun”), announced
in January this year. Sun has already provided the capability to
accelerate the delivery of recycled polyester (rPET) by maintaining
inventory and warehousing of raw materials to shorten lead-times,
providing quick response to meet the local needs of language,
import/export experience and other operational business practices. By
working in collaboration with Sun in the past 6 months, the Company has
been able to identify, begin integration and conduct commercial and
pre-commercial manufacturing of hundreds of tons of fiber and filament
with key supply chain partners that include spinners, weavers, home
textile and garment assemblers, and accessories manufacturers.
“We are excited to bring the CertainT platform to the Asian market as
sustainability with traceability continues to build into 2020 and
beyond. Our teams have been working diligently in China, Taiwan, and
Vietnam with the Applied DNA US and EMEA teams to accelerate the
adoption of CertainT globally,” stated David Lai, CEO of The Sun
Chemical Supply Group.
Estimates by Grand
View Research indicate that the global rPET
market is anticipated to reach USD $11.40 billion by 2025. Asia
Pacific countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and
the Philippines have been stimulating the growth of the rPET market as
indicated by key findings from the report:
-
In terms of revenue, Asia Pacific dominated the overall recycled
polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) market. It is anticipated to exhibit
a CAGR of 7.4% over the forecast period. -
North America is expected to witness a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast
period, owing to its broad application scope in several key end-use
industries such as fast-moving consumer goods, consumer goods,
clothing and textiles, and automobiles.
Sustainability goals are not a means to an end, but the start of an era
of accountability and traceability. Nonprofit organizations such as the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation routinely publish reports on plastics pollution
and hold some of the world’s largest brands to a pledge of reduction or
elimination of unnecessary plastic packaging and the use of recycled
materials.
“The growth in the CertainT platform is fueled by the need for recycled
polyester (“rPET”); not everyone is playing by the same rules to ensure
the claim is 100% post-consumer rPET that is both high quality and low
cost. Many fiber suppliers claim 100% post-consumer rPET, but those
claims are based on paper certificates, and not on the product itself,”
stated MeiLin Wan, vice president, textile sales. “Applied DNA, through
its CertainT Platform, provides evidence enabling greater transparency
from corporations and NGOs, offering confidence to the consuming public,
to prove sustainability claims, and in turn, provide a positive impact
on environmental and social issues.”
About Applied DNA Sciences
Applied DNA is a provider of molecular technologies that enable supply
chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product
genotyping and pre-clinical nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug
candidates.
Applied DNA makes life real and safe by providing innovative,
molecular-based technology solutions and services that can help protect
products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of
companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud
and diversion.
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Common stock listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and warrants are
listed under the symbol APDNW.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be
“forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Applied
DNA’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are
based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond the control of Applied DNA. Actual results
could differ materially from those projected due to its history of net
losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, ability
to maintain its NASDAQ listing and various other factors detailed from
time to time in Applied DNA’s SEC reports and filings, including our
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 18, 2018 and our subsequent
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 7, 2019 and May 9,
2019, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov.
Applied DNA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or
circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
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