UNTHA is playing a leading role in helping Textek, a Shropshire-based recycling company, achieve its ambitious target to recycle one million end-of-life mattresses per annum — thanks to the amazing capabilities of two UNTHA XR3000C shredders. 

Installed three years ago in 2020, these machines lie at the heart of the operation’s bespoke mattress and bulky waste shredding line — a full recycling process resulting from eighteen months of research, design and development. This initiative was implemented as part of Textek’s wider sustainability strategy, and is instrumental in helping the organisation fulfil its core aim of diverting as many mattresses and sofas from landfill as possible. 

Speaking about the project, Martin Price, Managing Director at Textek, said: “An estimated 7 million mattresses were disposed of in 2017, at a cost of at least £20m, before considering transport and handling. This – coupled with illegal dumping, not to mention the environmental and commercial cost of manufacturing new replacement products – means the impact of this notably tricky waste stream is quickly spiralling.

“While government initiatives are gradually looking at improved strategies for such bulky waste handling, we identified a need to move faster, so turned our attention to designing our own automated line.

“But we don’t want to stop there – already we’re thinking about the creation of additional dedicated bulky waste recycling lines, in other parts of the country.”

A closed-loop, sustainable system 

The XR investment has bolstered Textek’s pitch as being the UK’s most advanced bulky waste processing plant, as it can mechanically dismantle a mattress in as little as 30 seconds, compared to the seven minutes it would take for a skilled worker to manually break down this complex product type.

This is possible due to UNTHA’s robust machines, which are specially designed to shred and liberate difficult materials quickly and easily. The two XR3000C machines are at the start of the system, which separate the full mattress down to its constituent parts — ferrous metal and flock for an alternative SRF fuel. With almost 3m wide loading apertures, the XRs shred the mattresses with ease, down to a <50mm particle size to liberate the steel from the flock, so it can be fed over a sophisticated magnetic separation system for further ferrous extraction. 

Producing premium flock

Unlike other energy and time intensive technologies, UNTHA’s shredders deliver these high quality outputs in one single pass. 

The flock is separated from contaminated material to produce a premium SRF with a high calorific value of approximately 24MJ, and three grades of clean ferrous materials are segregated for resale, smelting and remanufacturing.

Consequently, Textek has achieved its goal of producing a closed loop recycling system that can easily and efficiently process and recycle complex material types — and importantly, achieve 100% landfill diversion.

Outstanding performance

The high throughput and performance levels of these machines mean that Textek can now process 300 mattresses per hour — equating to a remarkable 1.1 million mattresses being recycled and kept out of landfills per annum. They also bring notable financial and operational benefits, as they are both low maintenance and low-energy.

Elaborating on their value, Martin Price, MD at Textek, said: “No other mattress shredder will give you this material liberation on the belt. With UNTHA, the numbers really stack up in terms of throughputs, output quality, and revenue potential. It’s easy to operate too, not to mention clean and green — thanks to the world renowned UNTHA EcoDrive.”

Why UNTHA?

Textek rigorously vetted several competitor shredders as part of the technology selection process. The XR was deployed to the site for a one-week trial to prove it could handle the variety of foam and sprung mattresses currently being disposed of in the UK. Impressed with the results, Textek then took the machine back for a second trial to ensure the equipment could achieve even the most challenging capacity targets.

Commenting on the project, UNTHA UK’s sales director Gary Moore said: “The National Bed Federation published a report in June 2019 which admitted the ambitious nature of the target to divert 75% of mattresses away from landfill.

“The NBF itself set this target in October 2018 but considering the recycling rate at the time of writing the report was only 20%, the uphill struggle is clear.

“The industry needed a step change and what Textek has done is truly inspiring. We always say our technology is designed to process even materials that are deemed non shreddable, and it’s a pleasure to see an organisation push the boundaries of innovation and put our machines to the test.”