2024

Jäppinen, Maria; Puhakka, Ville; Maksheeva, Alexandra

In the European Union (EU), 10.78 million tonnes of furniture waste are discarded annually, particularly up to 30 million mattresses is either incinerated or landfilled, which poses a significant material loss and environmental challenge. Despite the potential for reusing materials, notably soft polyurethane from mattress waste, such practices have not been widely adopted. The paper aims to address this gap by presenting developed roadmap for waste management companies in the cities, municipalities and regions. The overarching purpose is to recover material and increase material circularity. Furthermore, the implementation of these strategies is anticipated to result in increase in recycling rates. The roadmap is built from a case study from Päijät-Häme region in Finland. By fostering sustainable practices, the paper aims to contribute as a circular economy solution, providing tangible examples to address the mattress waste material recovery challenges and opportunities. The roadmap is built through tangible scenarios, providing three different scenarios for waste management companies. The first scenario introduces new shredder to tackle different kind of mattresses as well as new storing facility. The second scenario requires reconfiguration of existing systems, building new storage and utilising existing shredder. The third scenario builds on existing storing facilities and systems as well as how to reconfigure them. Notably, economic aspects are integral to all scenarios, ensuring a balanced emphasis on cost-effectiveness. The study showed that the first scenario is the most optimal for the soft polyurethane material recovery from the mattress waste.