KU Leuven disseminated the last project video, about “Cradle-to-cradle: Mattress waste as a renewable resource?”. You can watch it on youtube.
Old mattresses could be a re-used as a resource to produce new high quality polyurethane materials. In the EU PureSMART process, KULeuven discovered a process to split the waste material in an energy-efficient way. This MOOC explains how the building blocks for polyurethane are produced traditionally, in the ‘linear’ economy, based on fossil resources. As an alternative, we explain the chemistry behind the new splitting process. This is a large stride forward towards a truly circular materials economy.