Foam plant’s sustainable foam can be recycled more than 10 times, making mattresses and furniture a lot more durable.As consumers, we depend on foam. It is used in large quantities in mattresses, chairs and sofas, but unfortunately it is often not sustainable. The Groningen scale-up Foam plant is focusing on the production of a circular variant, suitable for use in furniture and horticulture, among other things. “Our foam can be reused again and again, up to 10 times, for new applications”, says CEO Martin Tietema. He answered six questions about his company for Innovation Origins.
Regular foam you can make as hot as you want, but you can never melt it down again. It doesn’t liquefy anymore, which makes it difficult to reprocess. We use biopolymers where this is possible. You can melt the material, shred it and turn it into raw material from which new foam is made. We are committed to reusing our product in new applications. The foam can be recycled up to 10 times. But should the foam end up in the river in exceptional cases, it will be broken down by fungi and bacteria. Fortunately, it doesn’t float around forever. The materials we use are inherently fire retardant. There are no additives needed that are used in regular foam, which often contains unhealthy substances. A balance must then be made between fire safety on the one hand and a healthy living environment on the other. With our foam, you no longer have to make that choice.
This production method also has health benefits. The conventional foam industry allows polymers to react with each other, creating a completely interwoven structure. This is a reaction that can never be fully completed. Residues are created that evaporate from the material. This is why there is often a strong smell in a brand-new car. For the average person, these fumes are not such a big problem, but for asthmatics, for example, they are. Grow foam, our horticultural product, is the first product we launched. It is a nutrient layer developed for growing young plants from seed or cuttings. Horticulture is becoming more sophisticated and it is becoming more important to grow clean. Now peat substrate is often used to grow crops. Peat soil stores CO2 in large quantities. Given the climate problems, it is not unwise to leave the peat where it is. You also destroy peat bogs when you dig them up. Grow foam is sustainable and can be disposed of together with green waste. Customers use it mainly in vertical farms to grow herbs, salad crops, cucumbers, flowers and much more. The sky is the limit.