There is no doubt about it,in the EU at least-there will be more post-consumer polyurethane to recycle in coming years.It is also very likely that some form of producer responsibility will be imposed on foamers.It will not happen tomorrow,or the day after tomorrow,or even the day after that.But it is coming,and it is coming soon.As delegates at the EuroPUR meeting in Portugal in June heard,industry must help to prepare for the change before it grows like a snowball rolling down a steep hill and hits us,as Marcel Moeller tells us on page 39,’like a truck'.Industry also needs to get the message out to non-scientific decision-makers that ther-mosets can be recycled.With the right infrastructure in place,old products can be a good source of raw materials.Whether these are able to compete with existing raw materials without either legislation or subsidies remains an open question.But is good to see that progress is being made in this complex area.A significant proportion of the polyurethane industry's output ends up in mattresses,and we dedicate a good part of this magazine to those products.Mattresses may be designed to look good and be a delight to sleep on,but they are the devil to dismantle.I'm sure that many of you would join me in suggesting that polyurethane-only mattresses are the way forward,and that all other types should be discouraged.(We can argue about whether it should be conventional,HR or visco foam later).Pocket springs,it seems bring an even greater level of cost and complexity to the disassembly process,as Sarah Houlton found out.She visited an innovative social recycling facility in Massachusetts,and also learned how hard it can be to earn a dime in the world of US mattress recycling.
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