NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 18, 2025 / For years, recycling has been built on promises. Promises that systems would scale, that quality would hold, that recycled materials could replace virgin ones without compromise. The truth has been harder. Sorting has remained clumsy, verification inconsistent, and many plastics have been left out of the loop entirely. That is why the latest milestone from SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) matters so much. The company has moved past promises and into proof.

On two consecutive days, SMX and its partner BT-Systems' Competence Center REDWAVE demonstrated what may become the gold standard for plastic recycling. In front of the National Flame Retardant Association in Europe, they proved that plastics once thought too complex or too sensitive could be sorted, identified, and certified at high speed. It was not a theory, not a lab test, but a real-world demonstration of what the next era of recycling looks like.

The trials validated three problem areas that have haunted the recycling industry for decades. First, food-grade plastics, the holy grail of circular packaging. Everyone agrees they need to be recycled, yet separating them from non-food plastics at scale has always been unreliable. SMX's molecular markers, paired with REDWAVE's high-speed detection systems, changed that. The demonstration showed food-grade plastics can now be reliably separated, verified, and reintroduced into supply chains with confidence. For packaging companies and regulators alike, that breakthrough unlocks a supply of recycled content that is safe, compliant, and cost-effective.

A Plastics Problem... Not Any More

Day two moved into even tougher territory: flame-retardant plastics and carbon black plastics. Flame retardants are essential for safety in electronics and automotive components, yet their very complexity makes them a nightmare for recyclers. Carbon black plastics, infused with pigment, have been nearly impossible to detect using conventional infrared and laser-based systems. Both categories have been stuck outside the recycling loop, treated as waste rather than resources. SMX's molecular traceability changed that. For the first time, these materials were not just sorted, but certified in real time. The impossible problem suddenly became solvable.

What sets SMX apart is the way proof is built directly into the material. Sub-molecular markers create an invisible fingerprint that stays with the plastic for its entire lifecycle. That fingerprint links to a blockchain-backed digital passport, ensuring traceability from raw material through production, recycling, and reuse. Instead of paperwork or self-reporting, the proof is inseparable from the product. That is why regulators can trust it, companies can monetize it, and consumers can believe it.

Valuing The Whole Lot

This is also where the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) ties the story together. Once a plastic is marked, detected, and verified, the proof is no longer just a technical achievement. It becomes financial. The PCT makes recycling a tradable, monetizable asset, turning waste into a commodity that can be priced and exchanged. Governments gain enforceable systems, companies gain balance sheet value, and investors gain an entirely new asset class. Recycling stops being a cost and becomes a market.

The demonstrations happening with A*STAR and NAFRA are not small details. These are influential institutions with the power to shape regional and global standards. By proving the system under their watch, SMX is positioning itself not just as an innovator but as the authority setting the rules for how recycling will work. It is a proof point with consequences that ripple far beyond a single factory floor.

For years, critics of recycling have pointed to stagnant rates and flawed systems as evidence the dream was oversold. With these trials, SMX has shown that the dream was not the problem. The system was. And now that system has been rewritten.

SMX has entered its proof phase. Food-grade plastics can be separated and certified. Flame-retardant and carbon black plastics can be traced and reused. The Plastic Cycle Token can turn that proof into value. And the institutions that matter have seen it with their own eyes. Recycling has lived too long on promises. SMX just showed the world what proof looks like.

About SMX

As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intends," "may," "will," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company's fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company's stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX's joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of gold, steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX's strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX's ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX's ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX's ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX's product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX's business model; developments and projections relating to SMX's competitors and industry; and SMX's approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company's shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX's business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX's products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited