One Scan, Two Proofs: SMX Exposes the Fatal Flaws in Recycling and Fire Safety

Audio By Carbonatix

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 19, 2025 / Recycling and fire safety share the same original sin. Both are built on claims that rarely get tested outside of glossy reports and corporate presentations. A green arrow slapped on packaging is supposed to signal recycled content. A chemical datasheet is supposed to guarantee fire resistance. In practice, both are taken at face value, with regulators, insurers, and consumers left in the dark until reality intrudes. And when reality intrudes, it doesn't knock politely. It crashes through with devastation.

Recycling is the textbook example. Companies proudly announce progress toward circularity while quietly funneling virgin plastics into the stream. Cities and municipalities publish diversion rates that look impressive but rarely hold up under scrutiny. Consumers dutifully sort bins and rinse bottles, yet remain unsure whether their effort ever translates into anything meaningful. The gap between claim and reality is wide, and it erodes trust with every press release.

Fire safety tells a parallel story, but with higher human cost. Producers insist their flame retardants are present and effective, while outside investigations repeatedly find holes. The Grenfell Tower fire in London made this painfully clear. Materials sold as fire-resistant turned into accelerants. Seventy-two lives were lost. Entire communities were scarred. And the world saw in stark relief what it means when "fire resistant" exists only on paper.

SMX: Trust at the Molecular Level

This is where SMX (NASDAQ: SMX ) breaks from the cycle of promises. It doesn't ask anyone to take its word for it. It delivers verifiable proof directly inside the material itself. By embedding molecular markers, SMX ensures that proof is inseparable from the product. It cannot be faked, and it cannot be ignored.

One scan is all it takes. That single scan can confirm that a plastic truly contains recycled content. That same scan can prove that flame retardants are actually present in the right composition and concentration, doing the job they are supposed to do. In a market drowning in unverifiable claims, SMX offers a tool that doesn't argue-it shows.

Even more groundbreaking is SMX's ability to expose ghost plastics. These are the carbon-black and flame-retardant compounds that escape traditional recycling systems entirely, slipping into the "plastics graveyard" unseen. SMX brings them into view, giving regulators and manufacturers visibility into what was once invisible. One scan, two proofs, and an entire hidden ghost story revealed.

The Plastics Passport Goes Live

The difference this time is traction. Not promises, not pilots, but programs already underway. In Singapore, SMX is working with A*STAR to launch a national plastics passport platform. Every piece of plastic carries a digital twin tied to embedded proof. Policymakers no longer need to rely on paper reports. They can enforce targets with science, and every bag, bottle, or film becomes verifiable at the molecular level.

Europe is coming next. With a letter of intent in place with REDWAVE, SMX's verification moves directly onto the factory floor. Industrial processes that once relied on audits can now be monitored in real time. Materials are checked continuously, as they flow through extrusion lines and production systems. The gray zone between regulation and reality evaporates.

This is a wholesale shift in accountability. No more blind spots. No more self-reported figures. Proof is embedded, carried forward, and visible every step of the way-even in the ghost plastics that until now escaped the entire system.

NAFRA as the Accelerator

SMX isn't stopping at recycling. It is moving directly into flame retardants, and it is doing so with the sector's most powerful ally: the North American Flame Retardant Alliance (NAFRA). This is not a marginal partnership. NAFRA represents the industry's voice, its shield, and its critic's favorite target. By working with SMX, NAFRA can flip the script entirely.

Instead of defending claims with paper trails, NAFRA's members can point to molecular proof in every panel, every wire, every appliance. Fire safety stops being a claim and becomes a fact. Regulators can enforce with certainty. Insurers can price risk accurately. And consumers can trust that what is marketed as safe has actually been verified as safe.

The power of NAFRA lies in scale. By validating SMX's technology, it accelerates adoption across industries that touch every part of modern life. Construction, transportation, consumer electronics-all of them stand to benefit from claims that no longer live on paper but inside the materials themselves. This isn't adoption by a handful of early movers. This is transformation at industry level.

Trust Is Embedded, Not Declared

For manufacturers, the competitive edge is immediate. Products that carry SMX's embedded proof stand out in markets weary of greenwashing and half-measures. Governments gain the enforcement tools they have been missing for decades, finally closing the gap between ambitious policy and enforceable outcomes.

And for the public, it represents a turning point. Recycling verified. Fire safety verified. Ghost plastics exposed. No more labels asking for blind trust, no more datasheets hiding behind jargon. The proof is now embedded, accessible, and undeniable.

SMX's mission has always been to transform sustainability from a promise into proof. With NAFRA on board, that mission expands into fire safety, where the consequences of false claims are measured not just in emissions, but in lives. Grenfell showed us the devastation of misplaced trust. SMX is showing us the alternative: a world where trust is not declared, but proven at the molecular level.

The message is as simple as it is transformative. One scan, two proofs. Sustainability verified. Safety verified. Ghost plastics exposed. The era of promises is ending. The era of proof has begun.

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) Public Limited