Our director of global business development, Gary Moore, took to the international stage once again this week as part of the Innovation Showcase webinar series in partnership with FOCUS Enviro.

End-of-life mattresses are a global waste problem, with a staggering 7million+ sent to landfill every year in the UK alone. Their bulky nature – which sees them too big to store and tricky to process – has created a large-scale recycling challenge for this waste stream. Until now!

UNTHA has caused quite a stir over in the UK when it comes to processing mattresses, so during this event, we shared the secret of how it’s possible to process over 200 mattresses per hour and even achieve a 100% material recovery rate.

“The headaches associated with their size and make up, and the costs associated with this waste challenge mean that mattresses are often considered economically ‘unshreddable’ – but this couldn’t be further from the truth!” said Gary.

Did you know?

• Over 80% of a mattress can be recycled into new consumer and industrial products
• 100% of a mattress can be recovered and diverted from landfill
• Investment in machinery engineered specifically to handle mattresses, means recycling can soon become a revenue generating operation
• The environment sector continues to grow, creating jobs at a time when many employment markets are in crisis.

Companies have long assumed that there is no quick fix to recycling this bulky waste but turning a blind eye to this issue cannot continue. With disposal costs mounting, landfill space depleting, and fly-tipping and illegal dumping on the rise, it’s time to take action!

In this 60-minute straight-talking virtual session, Gary covered:

• The scale of the mattress recycle challenge
• How to shred a mattress in under 30 seconds
• Designing a sophisticated mattress processing line for that 100% recovery rate
• The role of mattresses in the alternative fuel production sector
• Environmental benefits of smarter end of life mattress handling

In true global webinar fashion, the session took place at 01:00 (BST), so we’ve enclosed the link for our UK viewers to catch-up.

Listen to the full recording here.