Jul 24, 2022

Sustainability & Social Engagement

Driving circularity of mattresses and PU foams along the value chain

BASF and NEVEON are working together to further develop the recycling of mattresses. The aim is to establish a closed product cycle.

Currently, discarded mattresses are mainly thermally recycled or disposed of in landfills - BASF and NEVEON want to change this and return mattress foams to the product life cycle. Mattresses consist of valuable raw materials such as metal from spring cores, textile fabrics and to a large extent plastics (e.g.: polyurethane). In addition to using the old mattresses for chemical recycling, they are also suitable for further processing into composite foam. The utilization via chemical recycling as well as the further processing into composite foam thus provide two circular approaches as to how used mattresses can be brought back into the cycle in the future.

"We are currently in talks with many companies along the entire value chain about the feasibility of a mattress circularity - because it is clear to us that we will only succeed as a team."

We are currently in talks with many companies along the entire value chain about the feasibility of a mattress circularity - because it is clear to us that we will only succeed as a team.This requires the efforts of the entire value chain. An important building block in the direction of a closed cycle - which already begins with the product and eco-design of mattresses - is also, as a first step, the systematic collection and recycling of old mattresses. Extensive infrastructures that support recycling processes from collection to single-variety recovery of raw materials do not currently exist in either Austria or Germany. In addition to the technology that already exists and is still being researched, the organizational processes for sustainable mattress recycling still need to be implemented in this country. For this reason, NEVEON is currently working on various approaches to collecting old mattresses. In the first step, NEVEON focuses on the return and recycling of mattresses. However, the big goal is to promote the general circularity of PU foam, without limitation to mattresses.

Author

Karin Lonsing

Strategic Project Specialist
E: [email protected]

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