NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 17, 2025 / Every once in a while, an industry has its thunderbolt moment. Recycling just had its. SMX (NASDAQ:SMX), working with BT-Systems' Competence Center REDWAVE, has proven that the world's most stubborn plastics can finally be tamed. And not just tamed, but certified, traded, and turned into assets at industrial speed.

Over two consecutive days at REDWAVE's Austrian Competence Center, SMX put its system to the test before two heavyweight institutions: Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Europe's National Flame Retardant Association (NAFRA). The audience was as tough as it gets, but the results left little room for doubt. Food-grade plastics, flame-retardant plastics, and even carbon black - the phantom menace of recycling - were all detected, sorted, and certified in real time. Accuracy? 99% to 100%. Speed? Two meters per second, which sits at the very top end of industrial sorting. No one has ever combined that kind of pace with that kind of precision.

That matters because recycling's biggest problem has never been the idea. It's been the mess created by a broken system. Every country, and often every city, writes its own rules for what counts as recycled. Audits are inconsistent. Compliance is a paperwork nightmare. Consumers are skeptical, companies are frustrated, and the patchwork leaves billions of dollars of plastic waste stranded. What SMX just proved is that the chaos can be replaced by a unified framework where proof is embedded directly into the material. Molecular traceability tied to block-chain-backed SMX plastics passport that turns recycling from a story of wishful thinking into one of verifiable truth.

All Plastics Are Now In Play

Take food-grade plastics. For years, brands have been forced to pay a premium for virgin resin because recycled content could not be consistently certified. Now, with SMX's molecular markers and REDWAVE's high-speed detection proven, that barrier falls. Packaging producers can source certified recycled plastics that meet the toughest food-contact regulations without compromise. That unlocks supply, slashes costs, and creates a reliable pipeline of sustainable material for global consumer brands.

Flame-retardant plastics add another layer of impact. Essential for safety in electronics, construction, and automotive, they have been nearly impossible to recycle safely. Under NAFRA's watch, SMX and REDWAVE showed that not only can these plastics be identified at speed, but their flame-retardant composition can also be validated. That is a game-changer for compliance-driven industries, where the ability to guarantee safety, compliance, and sustainability has never been possible until now.

And then there is carbon black plastic. For decades, its light-absorbing pigmentation has made it invisible to conventional sorting systems, condemning billions of tons to landfill or incineration. SMX's embedded molecular markers change that. Suddenly, carbon black is visible, verifiable, and valuable. It can flow back into automotive and electronics supply chains where durability and performance are paramount, reducing reliance on expensive virgin inputs and balancing material economics across industries.

PCT to Seize The Assets Value

But the story doesn't stop at sorting. The Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) takes proof and turns it into performance. Once plastics are certified through SMX's system, they can be tokenized and traded as a new class of commodity. Without proof, recycling is a cost. With proof, it becomes a market. With PCT, it becomes an asset class. Regulators gain enforcement tools, companies gain compliance certainty, and investors gain a way to measure and price recycled content in real time. Waste stops being waste. It becomes wealth.

The involvement of A*STAR and NAFRA in these trials matters as much as the technology itself. A*STAR shapes Singapore's national circular economy strategy, including its plastics passport initiative. NAFRA sets the tone for Europe's strictest safety standards. Their presence, their scrutiny, and ultimately their validation mean this is no longer a company pitching a vision. This is an industry blueprint unfolding in real time.

SMX has always said its ambition is to turn proof into the foundation of global material economics. With REDWAVE as its industrial partner, that ambition has now been proven at scale. The system does not just recycle plastics. It certifies them, embeds trust into them, and sets them apart as compliant across any jurisdiction. This is VHS vs. Betamax all over again, only the stakes are far higher than home video. This time, the prize is control of the global circular economy.

With letters of intent already in place, industrial rollouts are on the horizon. When they arrive, competitors, regulators, and entire industries will find themselves measured against the SMX-REDWAVE system. Standards are not polite suggestions. They are the rules of the game. And the company that writes them defines the market.

Recycling used to be about bins and bottles. Now it is about who controls the certification that makes those materials matter. With A*STAR and NAFRA watching closely, and REDWAVE at its side, SMX has made its move. The rules of recycling have changed, and SMX, with help from some industry friends, is writing them.

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