Sustainable Plastics - October 2021 - 24

Q&A
Orrion Chemicals
Orgaform's plant
Yes, you
can recycle
polyurethane foam
In the past, even brand owners were doubtful whether it could be done. Dow's
RENUVA programme has demonstrated that given the right infrastructure and
set-up, it is 'absolutely' feasible, as Dow's RENUVA expert, Lucie Porcelli, EMEAI
Sustainability Leader, told Sustainable Plastics. And, with the recycling plant now
operational, this is really just the beginning.
How did the RENUVA programme
get started?
The programme actually has
quite a long history. Dow Europe
started collaborating with
H&S Anlagentechnik, a German
plant engineering company
with specialist expertise in polyurethane
recycling technology,
on the development of the market
for polyols produced from
end-of-life mattresses, in 2017.
And that really happened. However,
it is one thing to have the
technology, and it is another to
have the ecosystem in place to
be able to make a programme
like this work. It took three years
before we could move ahead,
but in May 2020, we announced
we were making it into reality -
in France.
Why did you choose France?
I have to be honest: we
24
October 2021
looked at several countries,
with the obvious candidates
being the countries in Europe
where mattresses are no longer
allowed to be landfilled. But
in the end, we chose France
because of the very clean way
mattress waste is organized
there, if I may use the word
'clean' in this context.
In France, since 2013, all mattress
waste has been collected
by Eco-mobilier, a non-profit,
government approved but
privately owned company responsible
for the collection
of discarded mattresses and
furniture that operates in line
with the extended producer
responsibility concept. What's
important is that they own the
waste that is recovered. And
Dow is purchasing the polyurethane
foam from mattresses
from EcoMobilier. Because of
everything is well organized in
France that prompted our decision
to stay there.
What does the ecosystem you
established for the RENUVA
project consist of?
First, of course, there's
Lucie Porcelli
the nature of their operation,
they could ensure a consistent
supply of this waste, which
we could use as feedstock, to
ensure that our facility would
run eff iciently, with regular deliveries
to the recycling plant.
So, I would say it's really the
regulations and the fact that
Eco-mobilier, who will be
supplying the polyurethane
foam - so that's clean and dry
polyurethane foam - to the recycling
unit. And because we
believe in decentralized ecosystems
- after all, it makes
no sense to transport waste
around - we wanted a local recycling
partner, whom we then
found in Orrion Chemicals Orgaform,
our toll manufacturing
partner. Orrion has built an industrial-scale
recycling facility
in Semoy, in France, which
they operate on our behalf.
Here, the recovered foam is
© Orrion Chemicals Orgaform Chemical
Sustainable Plastics - October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Plastics - October 2021
