Presently, about 8 million metric tons of polyurethanes are produced in the world annually. During production of precursors, semi-finished products and final products about 5 to 10 % of this amount is waste, i. e. an amount of about half a million tons. To this add the products after their life cycle. This is a large source of material which should not be given to landfills or incinerators but be used as secondary materials for the production of new polyurethanes
