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for reuse and higher-value recycling (e.g. recycling the mattress
textile fibres).
Regulations
It is important to ensure that materials recovered by recycling
mattresses all comply with existing regulations. The Ministry of
Infrastructure and Water Management funded an analysis of
undesirable characteristics of recycled foams, such as material
toxicity, odour and pathogens. The Netherlands Institute for Public
Health and the Environment (RIVM) presented a research design
in 2020. Product chain representatives are expected to guide the
process along.
Recycling capacity
In mid-2019, came the announcement that the Netherlands
would increase its recycling capacity to accommodate more
than 1 million mattresses per year. The first major expansion of
mechanical recycling capacity took place in 2020. This expansion
was enabled by the waste processing company Renewi and Ingka
Investments (belonging to the same group as IKEA Retail), both
of which invested in recycling company RetourMatras. Along with
the existing capacity of the Netherlands’ other mattress recycler,
MRE, this expansion meets the increased mattress recycling needs.
Mattress Labels
To adequately inform consumers about mattress composition
and to enable companies to recycle them after 10 to 20 years, the
Royal Netherlands Standardisation Institute (NEN) is developing a
new Dutch norm for mattress labelling. An international norm will
follow. All interested companies and organisations are welcome
to contribute.
International and Other Regulations
A last condition the stakeholders formulated is that all proposals
must comply with international and other regulations around the
use of secondary raw materials from mattresses.