NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 2, 2026 / It was there all along. SMX is unlocking new economic value from the enormous supply of plastic the world has already manufactured, much of it sitting in products, packaging and waste streams across the global economy. Now, as the economics of producing new plastic shift dramatically, that existing material is becoming far more valuable, turning what was once treated as waste into an increasingly competitive source of supply. SMX has developed the technology to authenticate that material, track its lifecycle and create an economic framework for putting it back to work.

The timing matters. War, inflation, supply-chain pressures and the lingering economic effects of COVID have changed the cost equation surrounding oil and petrochemicals. Virgin plastic, whose economics are tied to fossil-based feedstocks, no longer enjoys the automatic price advantage it once did. In parts of the market, recycled plastic has reached parity with virgin material and can even be less expensive.

The Age of Parity has arrived.

And suddenly the mountains of plastic the world has already produced look less like a waste problem and more like an affordability opportunity. SMX has grown its profile by making it a reality. The company's technology, capabilities, and applications have generated headlines across the globe, including in Forbes (https://www.forbesfigures.com/smx-how-proof-is-replacing-promises-in-sustainability/), Rolling Stone (https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/culture/plastic-promises-are-dead-proof-is-the-new-flex-54394/), Time (https://africa.time.com/climate/rethinking-plastic-how-risk-and-verification-are-reshaping-markets/), the Chicago Tribune (https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/24/as-illinois-builds-its-recycling-future-chicago-shows-why-proof-not-promises-may-define-compliance/), the Miami Herald (https://www.miamiherald.com/contributor-content/article315842548.html), the Los Angeles Tribune https://thelosangelestribune.com/2026/06/24/as-states-mandate-recycling-proof-not-promises-will-define-the-next-era-of-compliance/ and other international news platforms.

OIL CHANGED THE EQUATION

For decades, the economic argument against recycling was brutally simple: virgin plastic was cheaper.

Cheap and readily available fossil feedstocks helped make producing new plastic more economical than recovering old material. Environmental benefits could favor recycling, but purchasing decisions often favored price.

Then the world changed.

COVID disrupted production and global logistics. Inflation drove up manufacturing and transportation costs. Russia's invasion of Ukraine destabilized energy markets. Conflict in the Middle East has created further pressure around oil, petrochemicals and shipping.

Those forces have exposed a vulnerability built into virgin plastic: its dependence on continually producing new fossil-based feedstock.

Recycled plastic does not begin with another barrel of oil. Its raw material is already here.

That difference becomes increasingly important as the economics converge.

THE AGE OF PARITY

Parity changes recycling because it removes one of its greatest disadvantages.

A manufacturer choosing recycled material no longer necessarily has to accept higher costs to meet sustainability objectives. When recycled plastic is competitive with virgin resin, environmental and economic interests can finally align. When recycled material is cheaper, the incentive becomes even stronger.

It also introduces a measure of supply resilience. Existing plastic represents an enormous secondary source of raw material that is less dependent on continually expanding virgin production.

But using more recycled material at industrial scale requires something more than favorable pricing.

It requires proof.

That is where SMX comes in.

SMX PUTS IDENTITY INTO THE MATERIAL

SMX embeds invisible molecular markers directly into plastic, creating a persistent identity that can remain with the material throughout its lifecycle.

The technology allows material to be authenticated and connected to information including its composition, origin and recycled content. That means manufacturers do not have to rely solely on paperwork or claims to establish what they are buying.

SMX's Digital Material Passport extends that identity into the digital world, connecting physical material with a record of its history and movement through the supply chain.

The combination solves a fundamental problem in circular manufacturing: knowing what a material is after it has already been used.

That capability becomes more valuable as recycled plastic moves from an alternative material into a mainstream industrial feedstock.

FROM MATERIAL TO VALUE

SMX's Plastic Cycle Token adds an economic component to the system by connecting certified recycling activity to a digital credit mechanism.

Together, the technologies create a continuous structure around recycled plastic.

The molecular marker authenticates the physical material. The Digital Material Passport records its lifecycle. The Plastic Cycle Token allows certified circular activity to be connected to measurable digital value.

This is where the affordability argument becomes larger than the price of a ton of resin.

Material that once disappeared into a waste stream can retain an identity, a history and potentially continuing economic value as it moves through repeated cycles of use.

That gives manufacturers another way to think about plastic: not as something purchased, consumed and discarded, but as material capable of remaining productive.

THE AFFORDABILITY SOLUTION WAS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

The global economy has already manufactured billions of tons of plastic.

For years, the discussion focused overwhelmingly on what to do with it after use. The Age of Parity changes the question.

What if the material itself is part of the solution to rising costs?

When recycled plastic can compete with virgin resin, recovering existing material becomes an economic opportunity. When that material can also be authenticated and documented, it becomes a more credible industrial commodity.

SMX provides the infrastructure for that transition.

Its molecular technology gives recycled plastic an identity. Its Digital Material Passport connects that identity to data. Its Plastic Cycle Token connects certified circularity to an economic system.

Meanwhile, global economics are doing something regulation and environmental advocacy alone could never fully accomplish: making reuse competitive on price.

The world does not need to discover this resource.

It already made it.

The affordability solution has been hiding in recycled plastic all along.

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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