Tokyo, Japan – Mitsui Chemicals has teamed up with Paramount Bed and recycling specialist Rever to investigate chemical recycling of the foam from end-of-life polyurethane mattresses. The demonstration project is being supported by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment for its project designed to encourage the creation of decarbonised circular economy systems.
While in Europe and the US there are already schemes in place to collect mattresses for recycling, in Japan the PU from old mattresses usually ends up being incinerated, with no recycling of the PU content. Mitsui, Paramount and Rever are looking to set up a recycling system, including low-carbon chemical recycling and collection. They also plan to create a scheme to collect mattresses that have been reused in rental services under the country’s nursing care insurance system.
The project is being led by Mitsui. Its role will include the marketing of recycled polyols, as well as looking at the commercialisation of chemical recycling technologies. Paramount will set up a collection scheme for used urethane products, and commercialise the recycled raw materials. And Rever will work on aspects such as dismantling and crushing of the old mattresses.
It is set to run until February 2025.
