NEVEON and BRANTNER green solutions sign agreement on planned founding of joint venture for mattress recycling

• Foam producer and processor NEVEON and recycling management company BRANTNER green solutions have signed an agreement for the planned founding 
  of the first mattress recycling company in Austria.
   
• The joint venture has set itself the goal of establishing mattress recycling in Austria and opening up new material flows by recycling end-of-life mattresses.

Vienna/Krems, July 02, 2024. More than one million used mattresses are disposed of in Austria every year. According to the result report on circular mattresses, this leads to the release of roughly 150,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year as well as the destruction of valuable raw materials. Around 25,000 metric tons of this CO₂ is generated during the thermal utilization – i.e. the incineration – of mattresses. Foam specialist NEVEON and recycling management company BRANTNER green solutions have set themselves the goal of changing this. On June 28, 2024, the two companies signed the agreement for the planned founding of a joint venture to conserve natural resources and move forward along the path toward circular material flows. The founding of the company is still subject to the approval of the competition authorities responsible.

The joint venture will close the gap in the field of mattress recycling in Austria and help to keep valuable raw materials in the cycle and open up new material flows. In the first step, the company to be founded, which is based in Krems on the Danube, is to collect used mattresses in collaboration with collection points and recyclables collection centers, disassemble them and then recycle them mechanically. In the next step, NEVEON and other production companies will use the salvaged raw materials to make new (composite foam) products such as mats for cowsheds or sound insulation elements. 

“In line with our parent company Greiner AG, we have firmly anchored the promotion of a circular economy in our corporate strategy at NEVEON, with the aim of becoming a fully circular company. The signing of the joint venture agreement together with our partner BRANTNER green solutions is an important step on this journey,” explains Jürgen Kleinrath, CEO of NEVEON. “Today’s waste will be tomorrow’s resources. At BRANTNER green solutions, we recycle as many reusable materials as possible. We are delighted to be taking a further important measure on the way to establishing an efficient, holistic circular economy in Austria together with NEVEON,” emphasizes Stefan Tollinger, Managing Director of BRANTNER green solutions.

The joint venture is a pioneer in Austria

By signing the joint venture agreement, the two Austrian companies NEVEON and BRANTNER green solutions have become pioneers, as the planned founding will take place in an environment where the recycling infrastructure is not yet supported by EPR-schemes. “The Extended Producer Responsibility, which is due in many countries, provides financial support to recycling companies and creates incentives for manufacturers to produce more environmentally friendly products, which ultimately leads to a better recycling infrastructure and a more efficient recycling process. Although there is still room for improvement with regard to the incentives in Austria, and this would enable us to promote a circular economy even more quickly, we are going the extra mile together with NEVEON to offer a better future to the next generations,” explains Stefan Tollinger from BRANTNER green solutions. “At NEVEON, we aim to improve the quality of life around the world with our products and services. In line with this maxim, our planned joint venture marks the establishment of a recycling infrastructure for mattresses despite the fact that we are still a fair way off from receiving financial support in the form of a Extended Producer Responsibility in Austria. We are acting out of conviction here, as our partner BRANTNER green solutions knows just as well as we do that the transformation of our linear economic system into a sustainable circular economy is essential to ensure a future worth living in,” adds NEVEON CEO Jürgen Kleinrath.