NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / October 2, 2026 / The Age of Parity is permanent, and certified recycled plastic has emerged as one of its most important economic solutions. As war, oil volatility, tariffs, trade fragmentation and supply-chain nationalism alter the global economy, manufacturing with certified recycled plastic is no longer simply an environmental preference. It is a cost-efficient industrial strategy, an affordability tool and a direct response to a world where virgin oil-derived materials are increasingly exposed to price shocks, scarcity and geopolitical risk.

A recent New York Times analysis captured the first layer of this new reality. In "The Iran War Permanently Altered the Global Economy," published June 16, 2026, the Times reported that the global order has changed and economies are unlikely to simply return to where they stood before the conflict.

That is the headline.

The next chapter is plastics.

The New York Times captured the energy shock. Beneath it is a material shock. China has demonstrated how energy self-sufficiency and infrastructure can create resilience against oil shortages. But no major economy has yet demonstrated equivalent resilience against shortages in the plastics and materials that support modern life.

For decades, resilience was measured by access to oil, gas and electricity. But energy self-sufficiency is no longer enough. A nation can keep power flowing and still face serious disruption if it cannot produce, recover and reuse the materials embedded in daily life.

Plastics are not peripheral. They are embedded in food systems, medical devices, sterile packaging, water infrastructure, transportation, electronics, construction, agriculture, defense equipment, textiles and consumer goods.

That makes plastics more than an industrial commodity. It makes them critical infrastructure.

When oil is cheap, stable and abundant, virgin plastic historically holds an economic advantage. When oil becomes volatile, expensive or exposed to war, tariffs and sanctions, that equation changes. Virgin resin remains closely tied to fossil-fuel feedstocks, transportation costs and global refining capacity, while locally recovered and certified recycled plastic can reduce exposure to oil-linked volatility and long-distance supply chains.

That is the core of the Age of Parity: certified recycled plastic increasingly competes with virgin plastic on economics, not merely environmental attributes.

At parity, recycled plastic is not the expensive ESG option.

It is an economically rational industrial input.

SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) provides the verification layer for that world.

Its molecular marking and verification technology gives physical materials a persistent identity. By embedding markers directly into raw materials, products and recycled inputs, SMX creates a record designed to follow materials across production, use, recovery, recycling and reuse.

That identity can change the economic value of recycled plastic.

Without proof, recycled content remains a claim. With verification, it can become certified supply capable of moving through the economy with identity and supporting data attached. SMX's technology can help authenticate origin, verify recycled content, support compliance and create audit-ready material passports.

Certification creates economic value beyond sustainability. Verified materials can support procurement requirements, recycled-content mandates, plastic-credit markets, supply agreements, product-passport requirements and audit-ready reporting. Verification can also reduce fraud risk, strengthen buyer confidence and improve material accountability.

In practical terms, verification can help transform recycled plastic from a discounted commodity into a contractable and compliant material asset.

That is where proof becomes economic infrastructure.

The forces driving the Age of Parity are not temporary. Energy volatility, trade fragmentation, tariff exposure, material constraints and regulatory demands for proof have become structural features of the global economy.

The answer is not access alone. It is verified access.

Countries and companies increasingly need to know what materials they have, where they came from and whether they can be recovered and reused. That capability provides greater resilience when traditional sources of virgin material become more expensive, disrupted or politically vulnerable.

Energy keeps the lights on.

Materials keep life functioning.

SMX is building the verification system for that emerging materials economy.

What the Press is Saying About SMX

The announcement follows growing media attention around SMX's proof-driven materials platform.

The changing economics of materials, and SMX's role in creating the infrastructure to authenticate them, has generated growing global media attention, including in Forbes, Rolling Stone, Time the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the The Los Angeles Tribune and other international news platforms.

ABOUT SMX (SECURITY MATTERS) PLC

SMX (Security Matters) PLC (NASDAQ:SMX) develops molecular traceability and material authentication technologies designed to strengthen supply-chain transparency and integrity across global industries. Its platform embeds invisible molecular markers directly into physical materials, including solids, liquids and gases, allowing them to carry a persistent identity that can be detected and verified throughout their lifecycle.

Contact: Billy White / billywhitepr@gmail.com

SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited

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