SMX and A*STAR Unite Industry Coalition to Build Nation Scale Plastic Circularity Platform
SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has announced a strategic collaboration with Singapore's A*STAR to develop a nationwide plastic circularity platform. The initiative combines SMX's molecular marking technology with A*STAR's digital and spectroscopic capabilities to create a comprehensive tracking system for plastics.
The multi-year program will launch in Phase 1 with capacity to tag and trace over 5,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastics annually. Semi-industrial integration will begin in Q1 2026, with full-scale commercial showcase planned for Q2 2027.
The project aims to transform Singapore's current plastic waste management, where 94% of 957,000 tonnes of plastic is incinerated annually. SMX estimates the initiative could generate S$100 million in annual value through reduced incineration costs and certified post-consumer resin sales. The company is also introducing the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), a blockchain-based digital asset backed by verified recycled plastic.
SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) ha annunciato una collaborazione strategica con l'A*STAR di Singapore per sviluppare una piattaforma nazionale per la circolarità della plastica. L'iniziativa unisce la tecnologia di marcatura molecolare di SMX alle capacità digitali e spettroscopiche di A*STAR per creare un sistema completo di tracciamento delle materie plastiche.
Il programma pluriennale partirà con la Fase 1, con una capacità di etichettare e tracciare oltre 5.000 tonnellate di plastica post-consumo all'anno. L'integrazione semi-industriale inizierà nel Q1 2026, con una dimostrazione commerciale su larga scala prevista per il Q2 2027.
Il progetto mira a trasformare la gestione dei rifiuti plastici a Singapore, dove attualmente viene incenerito il 94% di 957.000 tonnellate di plastica ogni anno. SMX stima che l'iniziativa potrebbe generare un valore annuo di S$100 milioni grazie alla riduzione dei costi di incenerimento e alla vendita certificata di materiali riciclati post-consumo. L'azienda introdurrà inoltre il Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), un asset digitale basato su blockchain garantito da plastica riciclata verificata.
SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) ha anunciado una colaboración estratégica con A*STAR de Singapur para desarrollar una plataforma nacional de circularidad de plásticos. La iniciativa combina la tecnología de marcaje molecular de SMX con las capacidades digitales y espectroscópicas de A*STAR para crear un sistema integral de seguimiento de plásticos.
El programa plurianual se lanzará en la Fase 1 con capacidad para etiquetar y rastrear más de 5.000 toneladas de plástico posconsumo anuales. La integración semiindustrial comenzará en el Q1 2026, con una demostración comercial a escala completa prevista para el Q2 2027.
El proyecto pretende transformar la gestión actual de residuos plásticos en Singapur, donde se incinera el 94% de 957.000 toneladas de plástico al año. SMX estima que la iniciativa podría generar S$100 millones de valor anual mediante la reducción de costes de incineración y la venta certificada de resina postconsumo. La compañía también presentará el Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), un activo digital basado en blockchain respaldado por plástico reciclado verificado.
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SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) a annoncé une collaboration stratégique avec l'A*STAR de Singapour pour développer une plateforme nationale de circularité des plastiques. L'initiative associe la technologie de marquage moléculaire de SMX aux capacités numériques et spectroscopiques d'A*STAR pour créer un système complet de suivi des plastiques.
Le programme pluriannuel débutera en Phase 1 avec une capacité d'étiqueter et de tracer plus de 5 000 tonnes de plastiques post-consommation par an. L'intégration semi-industrielle commencera au T1 2026, avec une démonstration commerciale à grande échelle prévue au T2 2027.
Le projet vise à transformer la gestion des déchets plastiques à Singapour, où 94 % des 957 000 tonnes de plastique sont actuellement incinérés chaque année. SMX estime que l'initiative pourrait générer une valeur annuelle de S$100 millions grâce à la réduction des coûts d'incinération et à la vente certifiée de résines recyclées post-consommation. La société lancera également le Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), un actif numérique basé sur la blockchain adossé à du plastique recyclé vérifié.
SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) hat eine strategische Zusammenarbeit mit Singapurs A*STAR angekündigt, um eine landesweite Plattform für die Kreislaufführung von Kunststoffen zu entwickeln. Die Initiative kombiniert SMX' molekulare Markierungstechnologie mit A*STARs digitalen und spektroskopischen Fähigkeiten, um ein umfassendes Verfolgungssystem für Kunststoffe zu schaffen.
Das mehrjährige Programm startet in Phase 1 mit der Kapazität, jährlich über 5.000 Tonnen post-consumer Kunststoff zu kennzeichnen und nachzuverfolgen. Die halbindustrielle Integration beginnt im Q1 2026, eine kommerzielle Großdemonstration ist für das Q2 2027 geplant.
Das Projekt zielt darauf ab, die derzeitige Kunststoffabfallwirtschaft Singapurs zu verändern, in der jährlich 94% von 957.000 Tonnen Kunststoff verbrannt werden. SMX schätzt, dass die Initiative durch geringere Verbrennungskosten und den Verkauf zertifizierter post-consumer-Resinien einen jährlichen Wert von S$100 Millionen schaffen könnte. Zudem führt das Unternehmen den Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) ein, ein blockchain-basiertes digitales Asset, das durch verifizierten recycelten Kunststoff gedeckt ist.
- Partnership with Singapore's leading R&D agency A*STAR adds significant credibility and technical capabilities
- Potential to generate S$100 million in annual value through cost savings and PCR sales
- Estimated addressable market of S$4.2 billion annually when replicated across ASEAN
- Introduction of innovative Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) as a tradeable digital asset
- Strategic timing aligned with upcoming extended producer responsibility mandates
- Long implementation timeline with full-scale commercial showcase not until Q2 2027
- Requires significant industry adoption and infrastructure changes
- Success dependent on regulatory enforcement and market adoption of PCR standards
Insights
SMX-A*STAR partnership creates blockchain-based plastic traceability system with significant commercial potential, addressing Singapore's recycling challenges.
This strategic collaboration between SMX and Singapore's A*STAR represents a potentially transformative approach to plastic waste management through molecular-level traceability. The partnership will deploy SMX's chemical marking technology and blockchain platform alongside A*STAR's digital and spectroscopic capabilities to create an intelligent system tracking plastics from manufacturing through recycling.
The initiative directly addresses a critical inefficiency in Singapore's waste management system, where 94% of 957,000 tonnes of plastic waste is currently incinerated rather than recycled. By creating a verifiable tracking system with a targeted capacity to trace over 5,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastics annually, the project aims to improve recycling rates by more than 30% while halving landfill volumes by 2030.
The economic case appears compelling. SMX estimates that diverting just one-third of Singapore's plastic waste from incineration could avoid approximately S$27 million in annual incineration fees while creating S$75 million in certified post-consumer resin � a combined S$100+ million annual economic benefit. When scaled across ASEAN, SMX projects an addressable market of approximately S$4.2 billion annually.
The introduction of the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) adds a financial instrument to the initiative, potentially creating a market-based incentive structure for verified recycling that could replace traditional carbon credits. With implementation beginning in Q1 2026 and full-scale commercial showcase expected by Q2 2027, this initiative aligns strategically with Singapore's extended producer responsibility mandates, offering companies a compliance pathway while creating new value from waste streams.
Flagship programme will demonstrate molecular‑level traceability from waste collection to high‑value recycled resin, advancing Singapore's Zero Waste Masterplan and reinforcing regional circular‑economy leadership.
NEW YORK, NY AND SINGAPORE / / September 2, 2025 / SMX (Security Matters) PLC (NASDAQ:SMX; SMXWW), the pioneer of "physical‑to‑digital" supply‑chain solutions, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore's lead public sector research and development (R&D) agency, today announced a strategic collaboration to pilot a national plastic circularity platform with brands, producers, manufacturers, waste collectors, recyclers and retailers.
This collaboration combines SMX's chemical molecular marking technology, patented reader and blockchain-based traceability platform with A*STAR's cutting-edge digital, advanced chemical spectroscopic detection and profiling research capabilities, to create an intelligent system to permanently mark, track and analyse plastics through their entire lifecycle-from manufacturing to recycling. By enabling every plastic item to carry a secure digital record of its origin, composition, and reuse cycles, the initiative aims to greatly enhance transparency and efficiency in recycling - supporting Singapore's vision of a sustainable, circular economy
This multi‑year collaboration will integrate SMX's invisible molecular markers, readers and blockchain ledger, with blockchain, AI, advanced chemical spectroscopic detection and material profiling research capabilities from A*STAR, creating an auditable digital twin and AI system for post‑consumer plastic flows across Singapore's collection, sorting and recycling ecosystem.
Collaboration Highlights
Phase 1 will launch the first nationwide "digital passport" for plastics, dynamically tagging and tracing more than 5 000 tonnes of postconsumer flexible and rigid waste in real time. Semi-industrial integration is expected to start in Q1 2026, and a full scale commercial showcase is slated for Q2 2027-deliberately timed to provide industry with a turnkey compliance pathway ahead of impending extended producer responsibility mandates, with an end-stage capacity to tag and trace more than 5,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastics annually.
The full-scale commercial tagging and tracing stage is envisioned to be powered by a coalition of global and local brands, regional retailers, resin producers, converters and recyclers - unlocking high‑value, mechanically recycled feedstock (recycled material that can be reused or re-produced) and demonstrating that true circularity is mission‑critical to economic resilience.
Strategic Value & Market Context
Singapore currently incinerates 94 % of the 957 000 tonnes of plastic it generates each year, recycling just 6 %-which SMX believes is a costly gap that burns value as well as waste. If only one-third of that stream were captured in an SMX-verified loop, SMX estimates that the nation would avoid roughly S
The collaboration between SMX and A*STAR is designed to flip that equation at scale. By embedding chemical molecular "barcodes" in every pellet and logging each hand-off on blockchain, the parties aim to lift regional recycling rates by more than
Plastic Cycle Token - Turning Data into Value
Each SMX-verified kilogram of recycled plastic will also be wrapped in a Plastic Cycle Token (PCT), a tradeable digital asset backed one-for-one by the molecular marker and its on-chain audit trail. The Plastic Cycle Token (PCT) is engineered to supersede traditional carbon credits-potentially enabling recyclers to monetise verified recycled output, brands to hedge compliance risk, and investors to back measurable circularity.
SMX believes that demand signals are loud and cross-sectoral. FMCG, food-grade packaging, electronics and automotive brands across China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore are already specifying minimum-PCR thresholds and treating traceability as insurance against compliance shocks and brand-equity risk. In markets with real enforcement, verified PCR now commands a 5-15 % premium over virgin polymer, a spread expected to widen as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes tighten.
Against that backdrop, Phase 1 of the collaboration will create anationwide digital passport for plastics, tagging and tracing thousands of tonnes of flexible and rigid waste in real time. The data stream will give producers a turnkey path to comply with Singapore's Mandatory Packaging Reporting rules and forthcoming recycled-content mandates, while supplying recyclers with potentially higher-value, mechanically recycled feedstock. In short, SMX contends that true circularity is no longer nice-to-have-it is mission-critical to economic resilience and regional competitiveness.
Haggai Alon, Founder & CEO, SMX: "As Singapore marks 60 years of independence, it continues to prove that long-range planning turns constraints into catalysts for growth.
Together with A*STAR and our industry partners, we are building a bridge from Semakau to Jurong Island-transforming what was once a disposal endpoint into a high-value feedstock stream. This programme adds a new layer to Singapore's leadership in technology and sustainability and we believe places a powerful tool in the region's master toolbox as Asia drives global growth.
True circularity is driven by smart execution and adaptability. This is the first stage of a long-term plan-anchored by molecular traceability that converts waste into a verified commodity, and through the Plastic Cycle Token, a market instrument engineered to supersede traditional carbon credits with something measurable, auditable and economically useful."
Professor Lim Keng Hui, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of the Science & Engineering Research Council, A*STAR: "This collaboration exemplifies A*STAR's mission to translate cutting‑edge research into impactful, sustainable solutions. Together with SMX, we will harness science and engineering to close the plastics loop and strengthen Singapore's position as a global circularity hub."
References
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.
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). Refuse Collection Fees for Households. Revised 2024; accessed 5 August 2025.
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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.
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SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters)
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