Extended producer responsibility makes manufacturers responsible for the waste created by their products at the end of their useful life.It is proving to be a powerful motivator of innovation within the EU.It is now common to see the formation of consortia of companies and organisations to determine the best way to deal with the tsunami of end-of-life mattresses that the EU generates every year.Describing it as a tsunami is not hyperbole-the volume is staggering.Marcel Moeller,global marketing & sustainability director at Dow Polyurethanes,explained the situation to participants at EuroPUR's conference in November last year.'Within the EU,30m mattresses on average are discarded every single year,'he said.'Most of these go into landfill or are incinerated.If they were piled up,they would be 680 times the height of Everest.'
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