H&S Anlagentechnik (Sulingen, Germany; www.hs-anlagentechnik.de), a specialist developer of recycling systems for PU and PET waste, has announced that commissioning of a new industrial-scale reactor for Dutch recycler RetourMatras (Bodegraven; www.retourmatras.nl) in Flevoland, Netherlands, is now complete.

The facility uses an advanced depolymerisation reclaim technology to produce recycled polyol (repolyol) from the PU contained in end-of-life mattresses. 

H&S signed a contract to build the line in early 2021. According to the German plant manufacturer, an estimated 40 mn mattresses are discarded in Europe every year, and the EU is aiming to recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2030.

Mila Skokova, deputy managing director sales at H&S, said, “By converting PU waste from end-of-life mattresses into high-quality recovered polyols suitable for use in new PU products, our innovating recycling technology can make a valuable contribution to achieving this ambitious goal of the EU waste regulation.”

This latest project for recycled polyols is one of several that H&S has developed in recent years. In 2020, H&S built a plant in France for Switzerland’s Dow Polyurethanes as part of the Renuva mattress recycling programme. 

Major Polish PU slabstock foam manufacturer Ikano Industry has also been using H&S technology since 2013. 

More recently, H&S partnered with major furniture group Ikea to find a sustainable way of recycling the retailer’s end-of-life mattresses. 

Several other companies are also working on recycling the PU in mattresses. Last year, Germany’s Evonik decided to partner with compatriot waste management firm Remondis on a pilot project in Hanau to recover end-of-life mattress foam, and German plastics producer Covestro started working with the waste management sector to close the loop in the mattress industry. 

Meanwhile, Austrian foam specialist Neveon said it had achieved a technological breakthrough with the first production of foam blocks using 80% repolyol, turning them into new mattresses.