NEW YORK, NY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / October 9, 2025 / For decades, global conferences have promised to transform recycling and sustainability into real economic systems. They spoke of "markets for recycled content," "value chains for safety," and "circular economies that pay for themselves." The words were polished, the presentations inspiring. But when the lights dimmed and the delegates went home, nothing resembling a real market ever materialized. Recycling rates stalled, fire safety claims kept failing, and those pesky under-the-radar plastics were still written off as waste.

Markets don't run on promises. They run on proof. Oil, steel, copper, and grain became commodities only when standards were created to verify quality, consistency, and delivery. Without proof, there was no trust. Without trust, there was no trade. For thirty years, the sustainability movement tried to skip this step, talking about markets without giving them the one ingredient they need: verifiable standards.

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) is correcting that mistake. By embedding molecular proof directly into materials, it is giving recycling, fire safety, and overlooked plastics the one thing that turns aspirational goals into functioning markets: trust that can be measured, traded, and priced. Even Rolling Stone joined in the praise, with the culture content provider offering its take on recycling, saying "plastic promises are dead and proof is the new flex."

Recycling Without Proof Was Never a Market

The reason recycled plastics struggled to gain traction is simple. Buyers never knew what they were paying for. A bale of plastics stamped "recycled" might contain 30%, 50%, or almost nothing at all. Brands wanted to believe. Regulators wanted to encourage. But markets need verification. Without it, pricing is murky and demand is limited.

SMX's system fixes that. A scan can accurately determine the percentage of a material that is recycled, making "recycled plastic" a definable and enforceable class of product. Verified goods command premiums, while unverifiable substitutes are discounted. Suddenly, buyers can trust what they're paying for, regulators can enforce their rules, and sellers can charge more for verified quality. That is how markets are born.

The same applies to flame retardants. For decades, safety claims lived in datasheets, but when tested under stress, too many failed. That uncertainty translated into liability for manufacturers and risk for insurers. By embedding molecular proof, SMX transforms fire safety from a claim into a commodity. Panels, wires, and appliances become certified units of safety that can be priced, insured, and trusted.

The Value of the Overlooked

Then there are those pesky under-the-radar plastics like carbon black and flame-retardant compounds. For decades, they haunted recycling systems because conventional scanners couldn't detect them. They slipped past, unseen, into landfills and incinerators. Valuable material was lost not because it lacked utility, but because it lacked proof.

SMX makes them visible. A scan can certify their presence, transforming them from invisible waste into tradable commodities. What was once written off now becomes part of the inventory. This is not just an environmental win. It's an economic one, unlocking billions in material value that was sitting in the shadows of recycling plants.

This is the real transformation. Proof doesn't just enforce standards. It creates differentiation. Verified recycled plastic is not the same as unverified. Verified fire-resistant materials are not the same as uncertified ones. Verified under-the-radar plastics are not the same as mystery waste.

Differentiation allows premiums. Premiums attract liquidity. Liquidity creates markets. And markets are where sustainability finally stops being a promise and becomes a profit center.

From Empty Pledges to Market Reality

Singapore's plastics passport with A*STAR is proving this right now. Every piece of plastic carries a verifiable identity, enabling policymakers to build enforceable recycling markets. In Europe, SMX's work with REDWAVE will embed this verification into industrial processes, scaling it across entire supply chains. And with NAFRA in North America, even fire safety is entering the realm of measurable, tradable trust.

Decades of conferences promised markets for recycling and safety, but never delivered them. SMX is delivering them now. Not in speeches, not in declarations, but in systems that turn proof into premiums and premiums into markets.

For governments, this means an enforceable policy that doesn't rely on penalties. For manufacturers, it means verified products that sell for more. For insurers, it means measurable risk. And for consumers, it means labels they can finally trust.

Markets reward what they can measure. For thirty years, the world measured promises. Now, with SMX, it can measure proof. That proof is creating the first true markets for recycling, safety, and materials once thought worthless.

Proof isn't just enforcing sustainability. It's commoditizing it. And that may be the most valuable transformation of all.

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