NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 17, 2025 / Every industry has its white whale, the problem that defies solution year after year. For the recycling world, that problem has always been carbon black plastics. Their dark pigmentation absorbs the infrared and laser signals used by sorting systems, making them virtually invisible on conveyor belts. Billions of tons of this material flow into landfills and incinerators every year because no one could figure out how to separate and certify them at scale. Until now.

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) and BT-Systems' Competence Center REDWAVE just demonstrated that the unsolvable problem is finally solved. Over two days of live trials in front of NAFRA from Europe, the partners showed that food-grade plastics, flame-retardant plastics, and yes, even carbon black plastics, can be detected, sorted, and certified in real time -with an accuracy rate of 99% to 100% at 2m/s - a pace at the high end of sorting speeds. That showing was more than a technical success. It was the moment recycling's toughest problem, carbon black plastics, met its match.

The breakthrough comes from SMX's molecular marking technology, which embeds invisible markers at the sub-molecular level into the products themselves. Unlike traditional systems that rely on surface imaging or paperwork, SMX makes proof inseparable from the plastic itself. When paired with REDWAVE's high-speed detection systems, those digital markers can be read and acted on instantly. And it does something few thought possible. For the first time, carbon black plastics are no longer ghosts in the recycling stream. SMX makes them visible, verifiable, and valuable.

Unleashing Massive Untapped Plastics Value

The implications for industries are enormous. Automotive and electronics manufacturers depend heavily on carbon black plastics because of their strength, durability, conductivity, and resistance to UV light. Yet the inability to recycle them has created supply bottlenecks and added costs. With SMX's breakthrough, recycled carbon black plastics can flow back into supply chains, reducing reliance on expensive virgin materials. That lowers costs, improves sustainability, and provides regulators with compliance tools they have never had before.

Flame-retardant plastics, another complex category, were also addressed in the trials. These materials are vital for safety but nearly impossible to recycle without contaminating other streams. SMX's markers allow them to be identified, separated, and reused with confidence. This opens the door to closed-loop recycling systems for electronics and automotive components that were previously off-limits.

And then there is food-grade plastic, the most sensitive and tightly regulated of all. For years, companies have been forced to blend recycled content of questionable quality into packaging or pay a premium for virgin material. SMX and REDWAVE just proved that food-grade plastics can be reliably separated and certified, creating a secure pipeline of recycled content that meets global safety standards. That is not just a technical win. It is a commercial unlock worth billions.

SMX, the PCT, and Layers of Proof

The Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) opens that door to turn proof into financial power. Once plastics are certified through the SMX system, they can be tokenized and traded on open markets. That means recycled carbon black plastics, flame-retardant plastics, and food-grade plastics are no longer liabilities. They are assets. Governments can enforce quotas with real-time data, companies can show compliance without red tape, and investors can treat recycled content as a new class of tradable commodity. Waste becomes wealth, and the hardest problems in recycling become the biggest opportunities.

By embedding value into the material itself, the PCT closes the gap between sustainability promises and economic performance. Instead of chasing subsidies or surviving on regulatory pressure, companies now have a commercial reason to scale circular practices. The more they recycle and certify, the more value they unlock. That feedback loop transforms recycling from a cost burden into a competitive advantage and even a profit center, aligning stakeholder interests with environmental outcomes.

The PCT also lays the groundwork for a transparent global marketplace in recycled materials. Every token represents certified proof tied to actual plastic, eliminating the guesswork that has plagued sustainability reporting for decades. This standardization enables spot pricing, cross-border trading, and verifiable accounting for recycled content. With investors, regulators, and consumers demanding certainty, the PCT provides it by turning proof into performance and making recycling a measurable, bankable part of the material economy.

Why NAFRA Matters

What makes these demonstrations so important is not just the science but the setting. They were conducted under the eyes of NAFRA, a respected European industry body for flame retardants and critical safety materials. These institutions are not casual observers. They influence policy, standards, and industry adoption.

For SMX, showcasing its Plastics Passport technology in front of NAFRA is especially significant. This is the body that speaks directly to regulators, manufacturers, and safety authorities across Europe. It validates SMX's ability to tackle flame-retardant materials, a challenge first explored in technical work as far back as 2021. To return in 2025 with a live demonstration that proves the concept at industrial speed is a door-opener to new markets and regulatory frameworks. By impressing NAFRA, SMX is not just solving a plastics problem. It is creating credibility that can accelerate adoption across the automotive, electronics, and packaging industries where safety standards rule the game.

Don't under-appreciate the accomplishment. Carbon black plastics have been the Achilles heel of recycling for decades. Many companies and governments have tried to solve the problem, and every effort has fallen short. With this breakthrough, SMX and REDWAVE have done what no one else could. They have made the invisible visible, the unsortable sortable, and the worthless valuable. And they did more than unlock recycling.

By embedding molecular proof directly into all types of plastics, SMX now provides manufacturers and regulators with a system that verifies both recycling integrity and flame-retardant compliance in a single scan. Don't under-appreciate that result, either. That is more than a technical milestone. SMX just proved that even the most complex and chemically treated plastics can finally play by the rules.

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