BASF Canada pilot to share SMX tech with plastics majors

Special Report: Security Matters’ tech is at the heart of a major plastics recycling and reuse project in Canada.

A consortium of major corporations have joined forces to respond to one of the most pressing environmental challenges – plastic waste — and the technology they plan to use as a solution is made by ASX-listed company Security Matters (ASX: SMX).

This project is the first demonstration of a commercial arrangement stemming from a BASF-SMX joint development agreement signed earlier this year to lead the plastic circular economy market.

Security Matters is a company focused on digitising physical objects on the blockchain to enable a circular and closed loop economy.

CSSA, Layfield, London Drugs, Merlin Plastics, NOVA Chemicals, Recycle BC, Return-It, Save on Foods and V.I.P. Soap are also involved in the pilot project.

Supported by reciChain, these companies aim to strengthen the circular supply chain, extend the lifecycle of plastics, incentivise recycling, reduce waste and enhance resource efficiency in Canada.

reciChain combines the power of Security Matters’ blockchain solution, R3 Corda, and QuantomCrowd with its physical marker that enables the secure sharing of transactional data while improving the sorting, tracing and monitoring of plastics throughout the value chain.

Plastics credits

Implementing these technologies, value chain actors would conceivably be able to generate tokens or ‘plastics credits’, which would in turn increase in value as plastics go through additional loops. These credits could then be used to incentivise producers to design for recyclability, thus enhancing circular economy.

“We are grateful to count on broad stakeholder representation throughout the whole lifecycle of plastics including polymerization and recycling. With their support, along with the disruptive technology from Security Matters, our pilot will allow us to move from concepts and policy dialogue to tangible solutions in making advances in plastic circularity possible in Canada,” said BASF Canada president Dr. Marcelo Lu.

Secuirty Matters Founder and CEO Haggai Alon said the project was a clear example of how innovative corporations are committed to becoming early adopters of solutions as part of the new plastic economic order, a regulator for the entire plastics value chain.

“The SMX Circular Value Chain Approach (CVCA) is driving a transition from the current open-ended approach towards a closed-loop one by facilitating cross-industry dialogue,” he said.

“The project will be launched with the SMX digital twin technology which utilises value from blockchain technology and showcases how it can be used and leveraged to create a full closed loop economy in the plastics industry.”

For the pilot project, taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, BASF is also partnering with Deloitte as a strategic advisor.

The reciChain plastic value chain actors, on their part, are offering in-kind contributions to enable the feasibility of the pilot such as plastic material, testing, and technical expertise.

reciChain combines the power of SMX’s blockchain solution, which is built on R3’s Corda platform, with its physical marker that enables the secured sharing of transactional data while improving the sorting, tracing and monitoring of plastics throughout the value chain.

Head of Asia Pacific for R3 Amit Ghosh said R3 was proud to collaborate with Security Matters.

“We’re proud that our Corda platform was chosen to underpin the blockchain component of reciChain,” he said.

“The capabilities of blockchain to address real-world challenges is huge and we’re pleased to play a role in this pilot project.”

reciChain’s innovative digital twin technology

The marker technology allows the tracking of plastics materials across the value chain using innovative digital twin technology. This track and trace technology used in reciChain marks plastic products with a unique “chemical barcode” and connects them to a digital twin.

Both rigid and flexible plastic products will be used during the pilot to test the feasibility of the marker technology in the reverse logistics process. The pilot will allow users to access and verify information associated with the production of the material, supporting producers’ recycled content targets and retailers’ plastic waste diversion targets and further closing the plastic loop.

The project is being validated in British Columbia’s local supply chain and BASF’s vision is to expand reciChain to a nation-wide solution in order to position Canada as a leading country in recycling and recovery of plastics.

This article was developed in collaboration with Security Matters, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.