BASF and Neveon collaborate on mattress recycling

In the European Union, more than 30 million mattresses are thrown away every year, with most ending up in incineration or in landfills
.
To create a closed mattress product cycle, BASF and foam specialist Neveon are collaborating to promote the recycling of mattresses, where at the end of their useful life these mattresses are recycled and the foam is returned to the product's life cycle
.

However, for this, collaboration at all stages of the value chain is crucial, from product design to recycling these products as raw materials for new products
.

Collection is an important link in this chain
.
Old mattresses must be collected and returned on a material basis if a viable look is to be established
.
With this in mind, Neveon has now launched Remattress, initially in Berlin, to set up a mattress recycling pilot
.
The initiative will be expanded to other German states in the coming months
.
This user-friendly concept is simple
.
Citizens of Berlin can log on to to arrange a pickup date
.
Mattresses are collected and professionally dismantled for reprocessing
.

BASF is developing a wet chemical recycling process for recycling old mattresses made of flexible polyurethane
.
The initial small-scale trials are very promising
.
The original polyols can be recovered from old mattress foam and used again to produce high quality soft foam blocks
.
The quality of these soft foam blocks made from recycled polyurethane is comparable to mattresses made from traditional virgin materials, BASF says
.

Back this year, the two companies planned to get the first batch of recycled mattress foam made from collected used mattresses
.
The next step will be to expand the recycling process in subsequent years
.

Sven Crone, head of BASF's isocyanates and precursors business in Europe, said: "We want to build a network of partners with Neveon to gradually realize the cycle
.
"

Oliver Bruns, CEO of Neveon, added: "The future will be about the circular economy
.
We as an industry need to drive the transition to a circular ecology
where products are not waste at the end of their life cycle, but have value.
Raw materials and raw materials for new products
.
”