Urethane Blog
Post-Consumer FPF Recycling Article
August 1, 2016
Post-Consumer Flexible Polyurethane Foam Scrap Used In Building Products
Rebecca Stamm and Wes Sullens – July 29, 2016
Upholstered furniture, mattresses, and car seats contain FPF. In the U.S., foam manufacturers have long redirected their pre-consumer scrap from landfills into new bonded carpet cushion. This foam has contained a range of toxic flame retardants that manufacturers added to meet flammability standards.
From 1980 until a voluntary phase-out in 2005, the industry relied upon a highly toxic flame retardant called PentaBDE. [3] Unfortunately, researchers found that replacement flame retardants pose similar toxicity concerns. [4] These halogenated flame retardants are chemicals that are persistent and bioaccumulative [5] — meaning they are long-lived in the environment and concentrate in the food chain. These additive flame retardants can migrate out of the material over the life of the product during installation, use, recycling, and disposal.
Recycling materials offers many advantages over other waste management options, but the potentially negative impacts on humans and the environment must also be considered. There is no easy solution to the problem of flame retardant contaminated foam, but there are pathways to deal with current contaminated foams and assure clean future feedstock.
al. 2008. Serum levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in foam recyclers and carpet installers working in the United States. Environmental science & technology 42, no. 9: 3453-3458.
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