Chemically recyclable foam ‘can be used to cut landfill’

Scientists have reported in the ACS Macro Letters journal that they have found a new way of potentially reducing future waste, by using a chemically recyclable foam using a sugar-derived material.

A more sustainable option is needed, as many products manufactured from polyurethane are not recycled, creating a major landfill build-up.

Marc Hillmyer, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Minnesota University, and his colleagues have developed an efficient method to make a sugar-derived rubbery polyester compound called poly (β-methyl-δ-valerolactone), or PMVL, that can be used in new chemically-recyclable polyurethanes.

Using the new polymer, the researchers made flexible PU foams that were comparable in performance to commercial analogues.  

To test whether the foams could be recycled, the team added a catalyst before heating the materials to a high temperature.

Thanks to this process, the researchers were able to recover up to 97 per cent of the starting MVL monomer, before using what they recovered to remake PMVL with practically identical properties.