Polyurethane recycling is finally leaving the laboratory. Thermoset polyurethane cannot be melted and remolded the way ordinary plastics can, so producers have built a toolbox of mechanical, solvent, and chemical routes that turn foam and automotive waste back into polyol and isocyanate feedstock. Several plants now run at industrial scale, and recycled content in finished parts has reached 30 percent in footwear and one third of the virgin polyol used in insulation board.
Why polyurethane recycling stays hard
Polyurethane is a thermoset plastic. Once cured, it does not soften when heated, so it cannot be melted and re extruded like a thermoplastic. That single property is the reason the material has long been treated as among the hardest plastics to recycle.
The second problem is diversity. Polyurethane appears as soft flexible foam in mattresses, as rigid foam in refrigerators and building insulation, as elastomers in shoes, and as coatings and adhesives. No single recycling process fits every form, because each waste stream brings its own mix of fillers, fire retardants, and density.
Producers have answered with several parallel routes rather than one universal method. The toolbox now spans mechanical reprocessing, solvent based recovery, chemical depolymerization, pyrolysis, gasification, and acidolysis, and most of these are still at pilot or early commercial scale.
Why mattress foam and automotive polyurethane waste lead the queue
Two waste streams have become the priority targets. Mattress foam recycling and automotive polyurethane waste are attractive first because they exist in large volumes and because they are relatively easy to sort.
A typical car carries about 28 kilograms of polyurethane, and the seats alone account for 10 to 15 kilograms. Traditional recovery demands heavy manual disassembly, which has kept automotive foam out of most recycling streams until now. Mattress foam is bulky and arrives in a fairly uniform grade, which makes it the most practical feedstock for the first chemical recycling plants.
Most of the technology that producers have developed remains at pilot or early commercial stage, but the direction is clear. The easiest to sort and the largest by volume go first.
The routes that make polyurethane recycling work
The methods differ in what they break the polymer down into and how clean the output is. The table below maps each route to its feedstock, its output, and its maturity.
| Route | What it does | Typical feedstock | Output | Maturity |
| Mechanical or physical recycling | Regrinds and rebinds foam without breaking chemical bonds | Sorted flexible and rigid foam offcuts | Rebonded foam, low grade filler | Commercial |
| Solvent based recovery | Dissolves foam to separate polymer from fillers | Post industrial foam | Recovered polymer | Pilot to early commercial |
| Chemical depolymerization | Reverses curing to recover polyol and isocyanate precursors | Rigid and flexible foam | Polyol, TDI or MDI precursors | Pilot, scaling |
| Smart pyrolysis | Heated breakdown under controlled conditions | Rigid insulation foam | Recovered aniline for MDI | Pilot, 2028 plant |
| Gasification | Converts mixed waste to syngas | Shredded end of life vehicles plus biomass | Syngas as chemical feedstock | Demonstration |
| Acidolysis | Breaks links with acid to form liquid polyol | Post consumer mattress foam | Circular polyol | Commercial plant |
No route wins on every axis. Mechanical recycling is cheap but yields low grade material. Chemical routes recover higher value building blocks but cost more and need cleaner feedstock. The practical answer most producers describe is to combine mechanical and chemical steps rather than choose one.
BASF: gasification, depolymerization, and recyclable foam
BASF runs a produce, use, recycle strategy that combines physical recycling, solvent recovery, depolymerization, and the thermal chemical routes of polyurethane gasification and pyrolysis. The company prioritizes physical recycling but also treats chemical recycling as necessary to keep more plastic out of landfills and incineration.
In September 2025, BASF, Porsche, and the technology partner BEST completed a pilot that for the first time showed end of life vehicle shredder residue and biomass can be mixed and gasified into syngas, then used inside BASF’s Verbund network to replace fossil feedstock. The resulting recycled material was made into polyurethane for new steering wheel components, with the recycled portion allocated by mass balance.
At the K 2025 trade show, BASF highlighted the world’s first economically recyclable flexible polyurethane foam for furniture, developed with the furniture maker Vitra. BASF also presented a continuous industrial depolymerization process built with KraussMaffei, the Rampf Group, and Liebherr, aimed at producing polyol for refrigerated appliance rigid foam.
In footwear, BASF launched Elastollan RC in September 2025 at the Simac Tanning Tech show in Milan. This thermoplastic polyurethane carries up to 100 percent recycled content and is used in new shoe components, and the company has signaled intent to recover both post industrial and post consumer shoe waste through depolymerization.
Covestro: smart pyrolysis and the Evocycle CQ platform
Covestro keeps expanding its Evocycle CQ platform for chemical recycling of polyurethane foam. In March, the company signed a contract with the Fraunhofer UMSICHT institute to build a pilot plant for smart pyrolysis of rigid polyurethane foam waste from construction and household appliances.
The plant is designed for 2000 tonnes per year and is expected to start up in 2028. It will convert insulation waste into high purity recovered aniline, which is then used to make regenerated MDI. Covestro says the resulting MDI can cut carbon footprint by as much as 40 percent, and lifecycle analysis shows carbon dioxide emissions up to 80 percent lower than fossil based production.
This work is part of the EU funded Circular Foam flagship project, which Covestro coordinates with Fraunhofer UMSICHT and 23 other partners. The partnership aims to prove at scale that end of life polyurethane can be chemically recycled.
On soft foam, Covestro’s chemical decomposition recovers both polyol and the TDI precursor from old mattress foam. The company has moved from a Leverkusen pilot toward broader industry partnerships, working with the French furniture take back organization Ecomaison, the dismantler Secondly, and the Belgian mechanical recycler Federal Eco Foam to combine physical and chemical methods on sorted mattress foam.
To make parts easier to recover, Covestro focuses on mono material automotive designs, including polyurethane based luggage compartment load floors, acoustic parts, and interior trim built for closed loop recovery. These designs respond to the European End of Life Vehicles regulation and China’s extended producer responsibility system.
Dow and the no disassembly automotive stream
Dow Polyurethanes also targets automotive waste. In September 2025, Dow and the Italian recycler Gruppo Fiori reported progress on a jointly developed process, based on a 2024 memorandum, that recovers polyurethane foam waste from end of life vehicles without disassembling them.
Because a car holds about 28 kilograms of polyurethane and traditional recycling needs labor intensive disassembly, this no disassembly route matters. The recovered polyurethane stream reaches a purity that meets the feedstock standard for depolymerization, which helps vehicle makers and parts suppliers meet the new recycled content rules in the European End of Life Vehicles regulation.
The automotive process is meant to feed Dow’s Renuva line of recycled polyurethane materials. Dow also runs a mattress recycling project that turns end of life foam into Renuva polyol, with reported carbon dioxide equivalent reductions of up to 54 percent versus standard polyol, and it keeps expanding ISCC Plus mass balance certification across its polyurethane network.
An industry body notes that polyurethane is the second most used plastic in cars, and it points to the Dow and Gruppo Fiori work as a model for improving sortation. A suppliers association separately lobbies to widen the definition of recyclable plastic to include thermosets and polyurethane foam, and to set unified European rules for calculating and verifying chemically recycled content through mass balance.
Huntsman: recycled content in safety footwear
In footwear, Huntsman announced a breakthrough technology in November developed with the safety shoe maker Steitz Secura. It puts recycled polyurethane into safety shoe midsoles without hurting product performance, and it also works in higher end shoes. The method uses Huntsman’s existing Daltoped processing system, so customers do not need to change their process or chemistry.
Steitz Secura first made midsoles with 20 percent recycled content from its own polyurethane scrap, then raised that to 30 percent with a technology partner. Huntsman describes the approach as a scheme with potential to scale for recovering and reusing polyurethane waste.
Repsol and Recticel: industrial scale recycled polyol
Some of the clearest proof that polyurethane recycling works at scale comes from polyol producers rather than resin makers. Repsol’s Recpur plant in Puertollano, Spain, started up in 2024 using acidolysis technology licensed from Rampf Eco Solutions. It processes about 2000 tonnes per year of post consumer polyurethane foam, mostly mattresses, and the output is sold under the Reciclex brand as a circular polyol with about 40 percent polyurethane waste content that can be used directly as standard foam production feedstock.
Repsol says this circular polyol cuts carbon footprint by 20 to 30 percent versus fossil polyol, and the company targets having 15 percent of its polyol portfolio be circular. Reciclex supports Repsol’s goal of 150000 tonnes of circular or bio based products by 2030, and the group has invested more than 700 million euros in Puertollano carbon and circular economy projects.
The insulation panel maker Recticel opened an industrial scale regenerated polyol plant in Wevelgem, Belgium, in May. It converts post industrial PIR waste into high quality regenerated polyol, and Recticel is the first PIR producer to build a reactor of this scale. The plant is designed for continuous industrial operation with initial PIR waste capacity up to 4000 tonnes per year, and the company plans to replace up to one third of the virgin polyol used for PIR boards with recycled feedstock. Recticel says the regenerated polyol cuts carbon dioxide emissions by about 40 percent versus virgin polyol.
Regulation: ELV, EPR, and mass balance
The push behind polyurethane recycling is not only technological. The European End of Life Vehicles regulation sets recycled content expectations that vehicle makers must meet, and China’s extended producer responsibility system places take back duties on producers. Both pull recycled polyurethane into automotive and appliance supply chains.
Mass balance certification such as ISCC Plus lets a company allocate recycled or bio based feedstock across a mixed production line and make verifiable claims about recycled content, which supports a circular economy for polyurethane. The method is central to nearly every project described here, and the call for unified European mass balance rules shows the framework is still being standardized.
What limits polyurethane recycling at scale
The chemistry is no longer the only barrier, but real limits remain. Collection and sortation of post consumer foam are uneven, and chemical routes need cleaner, more uniform feedstock than mixed municipal waste provides.
Most processes are still at pilot or early commercial stage, so cost and yield vary by location and by waste mix. Not every polyurethane product is equally recoverable, because fillers, coatings, and composite structures complicate breakdown. These limits are honest, and naming them is part of why the field is credible rather than promotional.
Bottom line
Polyurethane recycling has moved from laboratory promise to operating plants for foam and automotive waste, with recycled polyol and regenerated MDI now made at thousands of tonnes per year. The remaining bottleneck is less about chemistry and more about collection, sortation, and steady feedstock, and that is where the next gains will come from.
FAQ
Why is polyurethane hard to recycle
Thermoset polyurethane does not melt when heated, so it cannot be remolded like a thermoplastic, and this makes recovery fundamentally harder. The material also comes in many forms with different fillers and densities, so no single process fits every waste stream. Producers therefore run several routes in parallel rather than one universal method.
What are the main methods for polyurethane recycling
The main methods are mechanical reprocessing, solvent recovery, chemical depolymerization, pyrolysis, gasification, and acidolysis. Mechanical recycling is cheaper but yields lower grade material, while chemical routes recover higher value polyol and isocyanate building blocks. Most producers combine mechanical and chemical steps instead of relying on one.
How does polyurethane chemical depolymerization work
Chemical depolymerization reverses the curing reaction to recover the original building blocks of the foam. Rigid and flexible foam can be broken back into polyol and precursors of TDI or MDI depending on the formulation. The recovered polyol then re enters standard foam production as a partial substitute for virgin material.
What is smart pyrolysis for rigid PU foam
Smart pyrolysis is a controlled heat breakdown of rigid insulation foam developed with the Fraunhofer UMSICHT institute. A pilot plant designed for 2000 tonnes per year is expected to start in 2028 and will make high purity aniline for regenerated MDI. Covestro says the route can cut carbon footprint by as much as 40 percent.
How is polyurethane gasification used for recycling
Gasification converts mixed waste, including shredded end of life vehicles and biomass, into syngas. BASF, Porsche, and BEST showed in a 2025 pilot that this syngas can replace fossil feedstock inside a chemical complex. The recycled content is then allocated to new polyurethane parts by mass balance.
What is acidolysis in polyurethane recycling
Acidolysis uses acid to break the polymer links and form a liquid polyol from waste foam. Repsol’s Recpur plant in Spain uses this route on about 2000 tonnes per year of post consumer mattress foam. The resulting Reciclex polyol carries about 40 percent waste content and is used directly as foam feedstock.
Which companies lead polyurethane recycling
BASF, Covestro, Dow, Huntsman, Repsol, and Recticel each run distinct programs across foam and automotive waste. Covestro and BASF lead on chemical routes, Dow focuses on no disassembly automotive recovery, and Repsol and Recticel run industrial scale recycled polyol plants. Huntsman targets recycled content in footwear through its Daltoped system.
How is mattress foam recycled into polyol
Sorted mattress foam is fed into chemical or acidolysis plants that break it back into polyol. Repsol’s Recpur plant turns post consumer mattresses into Reciclex polyol with about 40 percent waste content. Dow runs a separate mattress project that makes Renuva polyol with up to 54 percent lower carbon dioxide equivalent than standard polyol.
What recycled content is possible in polyurethane products
Footwear midsoles have reached 30 percent recycled content using scrap from the maker’s own process. Insulation board makers plan to replace up to one third of virgin polyol with regenerated feedstock. Thermoplastic polyurethane grades now exist with up to 100 percent recycled content for shoe components.
What regulations drive polyurethane recycling in Europe
The European End of Life Vehicles regulation sets recycled content expectations that car makers must meet. China’s extended producer responsibility system adds take back duties on producers. Mass balance certification such as ISCC Plus lets companies make verifiable recycled content claims across mixed production lines.
What are the carbon footprint benefits of recycled polyol
Recovered aniline for MDI can cut carbon footprint by as much as 40 percent, with lifecycle analysis showing up to 80 percent lower carbon dioxide emissions than fossil based production. Reciclex polyol cuts footprint by 20 to 30 percent, and Recticel’s regenerated polyol lowers emissions by about 40 percent versus virgin polyol. Dow’s Renuva polyol reports up to 54 percent lower carbon dioxide equivalent.
What limits polyurethane recycling at scale
Collection and sortation of post consumer foam remain uneven across regions. Chemical routes need cleaner and more uniform feedstock than mixed waste provides, and most processes are still at pilot or early commercial stage. Fillers, coatings, and composite structures also make some products harder to break down than others.