Borrow Cup Initiative is a Good Idea, SMX Technology Can Make It a Great One

MIAMI, FL, February 5, 2025 (Newswire.com)
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First things first-there is NEVER a bad idea when it comes to programs wanting to create sustainable and circular global supply chains. Every initiative contributes to the broader conversation on how to reduce waste and improve resource efficiency. Some ideas, like the Borrow Cup initiative– a reusable cup program launched in Glasgow by major coffee retailers like Costa Coffee, Caffè Nero, and Burger King UK-represent meaningful steps in the right direction.

They encourage behavioral shifts and highlight the urgent need for alternatives to single-use packaging.Borrow Cup brings awareness to the issue of disposable waste and fosters consumer engagement. However, for such initiatives to achieve true scalability, they must overcome three major obstacles: dependence on consumer behavior, lack of accurate traceability, and operational inefficiencies that may counteract their environmental benefits.

Fortunately, we’re not starting from scratch-technology exists today that can enhance and optimize these efforts. SMX Ltd. (NASDAQ: SMX) has it. This pioneering technology company specializes in digitizing physical assets and materials for the circular economy, providing a tangible, tech-driven way to track, trace, value, and monetize all types of waste. By integrating digital markers at the molecular level into materials-from precious metals and commodities to computer hardware, liquids, fashion, and, yes, reusable cups-SMX enables seamless, blockchain-backed circularity.

SMX Technology Makes Good Ideas Into Great Ones

Building on good ideas with better systems, Borrow Cup is part of an ongoing global experiment and mission to refine waste reduction strategies, and that in itself is commendable. It gets people thinking about sustainability and promotes active participation. However, the challenge is that many of these ideas rely heavily on consumer responsibility, which, to sustainable practices detriment, has historically been an unreliable mechanism for systemic change.

The numbers tell the story: three-quarters of UK residents own reusable cups, yet only a third use them at least once a month. The challenge isn’t access-it’s behavior. While Borrow Cup encourages returns with a £1 deposit and small incentives like loyalty points or discounts, history suggests that behavioral reliance alone rarely achieves lasting impact. Deposit-return programs have existed for decades, yet recycling rates remain inconsistent, demonstrating that incentives alone aren’t enough to drive widespread change.

This is where SMX provides a game-changing enhancement. Instead of relying on consumer habits, SMX embeds invisible, blockchain-tracked tracers into materials, allowing companies and regulators to monitor their full lifecycle. This means plastics, paper, and other materials can be traced from production through reuse and recycling, eliminating uncertainty and ensuring that sustainability efforts are data-driven rather than dependent on goodwill.

Exposing The Hidden Costs

Addressing the hidden costs of “Reusability,” one of the biggest challenges with Borrow Cup-and many other reuse-based initiatives-is the logistical burden. Again, not bashing the great intent, collecting, washing, redistributing, and replacing lost or damaged cups requires additional energy, water, and labor, all of which contribute to the environmental footprint of the system. Without real-time data on its true impact, it’s difficult to determine whether Borrow Cup is genuinely reducing waste or simply shifting the problem elsewhere.

SMX eliminates that guesswork. In other words, it takes a good idea by Borrow Cup and makes it a great one. With molecular markers, brands gain full visibility into material flows, tracking how many reuse cycles a product undergoes, identifying inefficiencies, and ensuring that recovered materials are actually being reintegrated into the supply chain. Instead of assuming Borrow Cup works, SMX delivers the hard data necessary to prove-or refine-its impact.

SMX Can Help Implement With Scale

Moreover, for sustainability to be truly transformative, it must be economically viable at scale. That’s where SMX introduces a powerful financial mechanism: the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT). Rather than treating sustainability as an optional responsibility, PCTs transform recycled materials into tradable financial assets. This fully functional economic model ties sustainability efforts to profitability-creating an incentive structure that benefits businesses, governments, and even consumers. When waste reduction has financial value, it becomes self-sustaining rather than dependent on behavioral goodwill.

Don’t misunderstand- Borrow Cup is an admirable initiative that plays an important role in the sustainability landscape. It raises awareness, encourages participation, and demonstrates that businesses are willing to invest in solutions. However, without robust traceability, accountability, and economic incentives, such programs will always face scalability challenges. SMX can help cure these these limitations.

The best news is that SMX’s solution isn’t a short-term experiment-it’s already being deployed at scale, providing businesses with the tools they need to measure, verify, and optimize sustainability efforts in real-time. SMX isn’t just about improving existing practices-it’s about redefining them.

Borrow Cup is a significant step toward sustainability, and SMX can help ensure that ideas like this one promote sustainable practices. Undoubtedly, by collaborating to create a fully integrated, incentivized, profitable, and verifiable component of the global supply chain, all parties win- especially the planet.

About the Plastic Cycle Token

For decades, carbon credits have been the go-to tool for addressing environmental challenges, but they often fail to account for the real-world flow of materials. With over 400 million metric tons of plastic waste generated annually, much of it remains outside traditional sustainability frameworks. SMX Ltd. (NASDAQ: SMX), a leader in traceability solutions, is changing that with the Plastic Cycle Token (PCT)-a breakthrough in plastic waste accountability.

Unlike carbon credits, which lack direct material verification, PCTs are tied to actual plastic flows. SMX’s technology allows plastics to be marked, tracked, and verified throughout their lifecycle, ensuring that each traded token represents real plastic being recycled and reintroduced into supply chains. This creates a transparent and measurable system that benefits industries struggling to meet sustainability mandates.

Rather than penalizing companies with rigid quotas and taxes-especially in the EU-SMX’s approach incentivizes participation in the circular economy. Beverage giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, constantly under regulatory scrutiny, can use PCTs to demonstrate verifiable recycling efforts. The same applies to MedTech firms dealing with sterile packaging, aviation companies using lightweight composites, and energy firms seeking supply chain transparency. By ensuring the traceability of plastics across industries, PCTs help businesses improve ESG performance without sacrificing efficiency.

With real-time tracking and verifiable proof of plastic usage, PCTs eliminate the guesswork in sustainability reporting. This transparency appeals to all parties across the supply chain that are focused on ESG accountability, allowing them to distinguish genuine sustainability efforts from corporate greenwashing. By shifting from penalties to incentives, SMX is not only addressing the global plastic crisis-it is pioneering a market-driven solution that makes environmental responsibility measurable, transparent, and economically viable.

About SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited Company
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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This opinion article is published with permission from Hawk Point media Group, Llc. Other than for fact-checking purposes, SMX Ltd. has offered no editorial contributions.

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Source: SMX (Security Matters)