SMX's engagement with NAFRA spotlights increasing interest in systems that improve material efficiency and downstream certainty without altering existing infrastructure
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / December 10, 2025 / Recyclers live with the consequences of every choice made far above them in the supply chain. When manufacturers add colorants, fillers, flame retardants, or stabilizers to plastics, recyclers inherit the complexity. They are the ones who must manage contamination risk, meet regulatory thresholds, and absorb the cost of sorting materials that can't be reliably identified. The upstream benefits become downstream burdens.
Flame-retardant plastics sit at the center of that challenge. They're critical for safety, but difficult to classify. Because existing technologies can't consistently separate them, recyclers often route these materials directly to disposal. This isn't inefficiency. It's necessity. Without certainty, recovery becomes a liability.
That's why SMX's (NASDAQ:SMX) role inside the NAFRA forum sends a meaningful signal downstream. Recyclers pay attention when a leadership body highlights a tool that has shown the ability to solve one of the sector's most persistent bottlenecks. Earlier this year, SMX demonstrated industrial-speed sorting with 99%-100% accuracy, including for carbon-black plastics that near-infrared systems routinely miss. That performance doesn't simply improve throughput. It alters the foundation of what can be recovered.
Unlocking Value That Has Been Blocked for Decades
Most recyclers don't send flame-retardant plastics to disposal because they want to. They do it because they can't certify them. Without reliable identification, these materials can't enter higher-value markets. They become cost centers instead of revenue opportunities. The lack of clarity forces recyclers into conservative decisions that protect quality but sacrifice volume.
SMX's system begins to shift that dynamic. By assigning molecular identity and carrying it through a digital product passport, recyclers gain the visibility needed to classify materials confidently. Certification becomes possible. And once something can be certified, it can participate in higher-value flows.
This does more than reduce waste. It restores value that has been locked out of the circular economy. And not just plastics. Virtually any verified material can be sold, reused, or repurposed. As more material becomes certifiable, recovery capacity increases. As recovery increases, circularity transforms from a cost obligation into an economic advantage. SMX's demonstrated accuracy shows that flame-retardant plastics, once considered too difficult to manage, can be reintroduced into controlled, verifiable circulation.
NAFRA bringing SMX back into a public-facing program signals that this possibility is now worth broader industry attention. It tells recyclers that a system exists, that it operates at the speeds they operate at, and that its capabilities have been reviewed by groups that influence compliance expectations.
Toward a New Baseline for Material Efficiency
For years, recyclers have relied on manual sorting, partial detection systems, and conservative disposal practices. These approaches weren't flaws. They were the only options available. Without consistent material identity, efficiency could only advance so far. SMX introduces a new baseline. Identity becomes embedded rather than interpreted. Verification becomes instantaneous rather than approximate. Sorting becomes systematic rather than subjective.
This shift has implications far beyond a single material category. As identity moves upstream into manufacturing, downstream systems become more efficient by design. Less waste. Fewer errors. More confidence. More recovery. That's the essence of material efficiency: extracting more value from the same resources by reducing uncertainty at every step.
NAFRA's engagement suggests the sector is actively exploring what this next baseline could look like. When leadership organizations bring visibility to a technology, it's often the sign of structural change. Recyclers who understand this shift early position themselves for operational advantages as expectations evolve.
Today's invitation places SMX in the awareness stage of that transition. It reflects a growing interest in systems that support both compliance and recovery across complex material streams. For recyclers, the message is clear. Industrial-strength traceability is no longer theoretical. It's entering the conversation at exactly the point where the industry needs it most. And don't underestimate SMX's role: it's the provider.
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
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts, events, or circumstances that SMX expects, believes, or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including statements relating to the Company's business strategy, financial position, future operations, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans, and objectives of management, as well as statements regarding the Company's liquidity position, capital needs, anticipated financing timelines, expected dilution, future share issuances, the anticipated use of proceeds, expected performance of the amended financing agreement, market conditions, adoption of the Company's technology, commercial pipeline, regulatory approvals, industry trends, competitive position, and any assumptions underlying the foregoing, are forward-looking statements.
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EMAIL: info@securitymattersltd.com
SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited
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