Brussels — EuroPUR with Urethanes Technology International presented awards to companies operating in the European flexible foam sector for innovation and sustainability here at a gala dinner to celebrate the association's 50th anniversary.
The awards were decided by an international jury of EuroPUR members and external experts who judged the competition in early June.
Milliken won the innovation award for its Milliguard AOX-1 antioxidant technology. Announcing the winner, Simon Robinson, editor of Urethanes Technology International, said: “The jury was impressed by the product itself, and also by the wealth of technical evidence that was submitted to prove that the company deserved the award”.
The runner-up for the award was Dow Automotive for its Specflex Activ. This is an additive polyol family that allows users to reduce the use of amine catalysts in moulded foam formulations.
Covestro won the sustainability award for its range of cardyon CO2-derived polyols.
Jean-Pierre De Kesel, head of sustainability and innovation at Recticel and chair of EuroPUR's Circular Economy Working Group, said: “All the major foam producers represented on the jury agreed that this is the kind of innovation that can help our industry become more sustainable.
"It helps to address the challenge that we all face in the coming years, namely how to reduce the environmental footprint of our product during its lifecycle,” De Kesel added.
The jury also recognised Dendro Poland as the runner up in this category. The jury felt that Dendro deserved recognition because the foam and mattresses producer is the first to operate a chemical recycling plant on an industrial scale. Since the plant started operating in 2013, the company has recycled over 1,600 tonnes of foam scrap into new polyol called repolyol.
The jury felt this proved that under the right conditions chemical recycling can work both from a technical and economic point of view.
