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In terms of mattress technology, polyurethane (PU) foam is a new upsurge. Forget the metal springs and the large amount of cotton pads that require box spring bases to prevent them from sagging to the floor after years of continuous use. Today's PU memory foam mattresses can be purchased online and shipped directly to your front door as a "boxed bed". No spring is required.

According to Wikipedia's definition, memory foam is composed of PU and other chemicals that increase its viscosity and density-commonly referred to as "viscoelastic" polyurethane foam. Wikipedia points out that the memory foam was developed in 1966 under a contract from NASA's Ames Research Center to improve the safety of aircraft cushions. NASA released memory foam to the public domain in the early 1980s, and then it was used as a mattress cover in a medical environment for people who needed to lie still in bed for long periods of time.

With the advancement of PU memory foam manufacturing technology, this material has become larger and larger as the layered material of innerspring mattresses. In the past ten years, PU memory foam mattresses have become more and more popular. Today, according to a CNBC report, there are 175 online all-in-one mattress companies. Reporter Jasmine Wu pointed out in an interview with mattress review site GoodBed.com founder Michael Magnuson (Michael Magnuson) that boxed memory foam mattress sales accounted for 12% of the mattress industry’s $16.5 billion. Quora.com estimates that approximately 34 million mattresses are sold each year.

Wu pointed out in her CNBC article that part of the reason why these PU memory foam mattresses are so common among manufacturers is the low barriers to entry and high profitability. According to Magnussen, most of the production of polyurethane memory foam mattresses are outsourced to the four major manufacturers, one of which accounts for 40%. Only Brooklyn Bedding and Purple produce their own mattresses.

You may have guessed what the next big challenge is-recycling all these foam mattresses!

Generated Materials Recovery, a local PU foam recycler in Phoenix, accepts all types of mattresses to recycle its contents, but according to the company's chief financial officer Mary Neffett, the "demand for recycled memory foam is exploding." "The biggest demand we see is the demand for our main material, the pre-consumer viscous (memory) foam we buy from mattress manufacturers such as Brooklyn Bedding," Neffett explained. "Then we sell it to companies across the country that need this material, such as Mohawk for carpet padding or making pillows and other products."

Close the loop of soft polyurethane foam

BASF announced last week that it is committed to recycling mattresses, using this material to provide raw materials for new mattresses. Pilot testing is underway. BASF has developed a chemical recycling process for used mattresses and tested the process at the Schwarzheide plant in Brandenburg, Germany. BASF's process decomposes the flexible polyurethane and provides the polyol that was originally used. BASF pointed out that because it uses fewer fossil resources, BASF can produce new foams with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

“The goal is to recycle raw materials of comparable quality to non-recycled/original raw materials,” said Shankara Keelapandal of the European Isocyanate Business Management Department. By doing so, BASF is breaking new ground and responding to people’s higher expectations for sustainability in the foam and mattress industries and consumers. This is an important step in the possibility of reintegrating post-consumer waste into the product life cycle.

The first batch of recycled materials will be delivered to project partners later this year to jointly develop pilot projects. “The project is technically complex, but the potential to reduce waste and save resources makes it all worthwhile,” Keelapandal added. "That's why we developed a solution to close the cycle of soft polyurethane foam through the chemical recycling of mattresses."

Personally, my favorite mattress is my grandma’s feather bed mattress, which was made from chicken feathers collected when she and grandpa lived on the farm. When I was young, there was nothing better than spending the night with my grandparents so that I could sleep on the feather bed in the spare bedroom. It is very soft and I will sink into the mattress like a warm "hug".

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