The Albany Gazette - SMX's Plastic Cycle Token Redefines Material Efficiency By Turning Trash to Cash

Recycling has been treated like a never-ending town hall. Politicians set bold targets. Corporations pledge billions. Watchdogs release annual scorecards. The only thing missing is progress. Landfills continue to swell, incinerators continue to burn, and consumers continue to roll their eyes at promises that collapse under scrutiny. The debate never ends because the system was built on paperwork and self-reporting instead of proof.

SMX ends the debate by embedding molecular markers directly into plastic resin. Every batch can be tracked, every handoff recorded, every claim verified. A bottle, an electronics case, or a car interior can all be scanned and matched to its digital record. That record becomes the plastic passport, the proof layer that makes circularity enforceable. Each verified kilogram of recycled resin is wrapped in a PCT, making waste not a burden but an asset.

Shifting Compliance Into a Financial Engine

The brilliance of the model is that it shifts recycling from a compliance obligation to a financial engine. Brands can use PCTs to demonstrate recycled content and protect against customs delays. Governments can enforce policy without loopholes. Recyclers and converters can finally monetize their output by treating tokens as liquidity. While regulators argue over fees and quotas, SMX hands the industry a tradable instrument that solves the financing gap that has strangled recycling infrastructure for decades.

Traditional credits were built for press releases, not for performance. They rewarded pulling plastic out of rivers or beaches, but ignored the full value chain. The PCT captures value from virgin production through multiple recycling loops. It is compliance-native, science-backed, and designed to support green loans, ESG-linked bonds, and catalytic funds. Instead of waiting for the next round of debate, the PCT gives the market the rails to scale.

Timing is critical. Asia-Pacific governments are turning up the pressure with content mandates, producer responsibility fees, and landfill penalties. India requires 30% recycled PET in every bottle. Singapore's deposit-return system is about to launch. Certified post-consumer resin already trades at a premium over virgin plastic. Brands are not resisting the cost because traceability has become their best insurance policy. The PCT is the proof that makes the insurance credible.

Singapore, A*STAR, and SMX Define Plastics Passport Technology

Singapore has gone further than debate. Its Plastics Circularity Project with A*STAR embeds markers at the resin level and issues tokens for every verified kilogram. This is not a pilot. It is a national template. Other cities, from Tokyo to Dubai to London, are watching closely. With regional recycling rates stuck at 6%, even modest adoption could redirect billions in lost value back into productive use.

At the geopolitical level, the stakes are rising fast. Nations that set the benchmark for plastics passports and compliance-native tokens will control the flow of recycled materials and the financing attached to them. The rest of the world can keep debating. The leaders are already moving to implement.

The bigger story is that SMX has flipped the entire narrative. Plastic was once the global symbol of pollution and liability. Now it can be a verifiable, tradable asset. The plastics passport provides the proof. The PCT delivers the value. Together, they create an infrastructure of trust that transforms material efficiency into a financial category governments can regulate, brands can monetize, and investors can trade.

This is why the endless debate feels tired. The tools exist. The proof exists. The infrastructure exists. SMX has already built it. The only question left is who will be the next to stop talking about plastic waste and start treating it as the billion-dollar opportunity it really is.

References

• Singapore Statutes Online. Environmental Public Health (Public Cleansing) Regulations - Incineration gate-fee schedule; revised 2024.

• National Environment Agency (NEA). "New Licensing Regime for General Waste Disposal Facilities." Technical brief & dialogue-session slides; 2024.

• Nasdaq.com. "SMX Announces Planned Launch of World's First Plastic Cycle Token." Press release; 2024.

• Yahoo! Finance. "SMX Plastic Cycle Token Is a Functional Market-Driven Solution…" News article; 2024.

• Los Angeles Tribune. "Carbon Credits Had Their Day… Now the SMX Plastic Cycle Token…" Feature article; 2025.

• National Environment Agency (NEA). Waste & Recycling Statistics 2014 - 2023. Singapore: NEA; 2024.

• Shunpoly.com. "How Much Plastic Is Wasted Each Year in Singapore?" Accessed 5 August 2025.

• National Environment Agency (NEA). Waste-Statistics & Overall Recycling (interactive dashboard). Updated 2024; accessed 5 August 2025.

• National Environment Agency (NEA). Mandatory Packaging Reporting portal. Accessed 5 August 2025.

• National Environment Agency (NEA). Refuse Collection Fees for Households. Revised 2024; accessed 5 August 2025.

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.

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters)

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(A.Moore--TAG)