The Vita Group scoops 4 awards at Interzum 2023

We are thrilled to have won four Interzum awards in recognition of its market-leading sustainable foam technologies including the prestigious ‘Best of the Best Award’.

The Interzum trade fair – taking place in Cologne – is the first to be held in person since the pandemic. It provides players in the furniture industry and interior design the ideal environment to present newly conceived solutions to an international audience, which are then judged by Interzum’s renowned jury of experts.

The VitaFirst mattress was awarded the highly prestigious “Best of the Best” prize by the judges who described it as a ‘well thought-out and innovative design’.

VitaFirst incorporates a mattress design manufactured using Vita’s most innovative and sustainable technologies to date. It comprises two sustainable foam products, Orbis Plus MB and Novus, a reconstituted foam that can be designed into your customers’ product portfolio.

Sustainability is at the heart of this mattress’ design. The latest foam technologies include the elimination of glue to enable easier end-of-life dismantling and recycling. The finished product is covered with a Global Recycled Standard (GRS) sustainable cover.

Novus is constructed through a process of bonding granulated post-industrial trim that is reintroduced into the production cycle. The VitaFirst mattress uses a new Novus grade with only 40 Kg/m3 density for enhanced comfort.

Three other Vita products – Orbis Plus, Orbis Plus MB and Orbis NEXT MB (concept product) – were all awarded the High Product Quality award.

These products are the latest iterations of Orbis, which was recognised as Interzum’s ‘Best of the Best’ Award in 2021. Orbis foam is Vita’s innovative flexible polyurethane (PU) foam made with raw materials sourced from recycled post-consumer foam mattresses. To create Orbis, we partnered with Dow in the RENUVA™ Mattress Recycling Program to produce flexible PU foams that is made from RENUVA™ polyols – a raw material created from recycled mattress content.

Our concept products and the recognition from Interzum are attributable to its partners’ commitment to collaboration and partnership:

• Orbis Plus is a fundamental step change to what has gone before, containing up to 100% recycled and renewable polyols. Vita’s formula uses a variable combination of bio-based polyol, and RENUVA ™ recycled polyol which aims to total up to 100% of sustainable polyol content.
• Orbis Plus MB – a key component of VitaFirst and a product in its own right – uses the same polyols formulation to Orbis Plus but is made using TDI* produced by Covestro with ~50% ISCCPLUS** bio-circular attributed mass balance feedstock.
• Orbis NEXT MB (concept foam) is made using 100% recycled polyol made in partnership with Evonik whilst the TDI* is again produced by Covestro with ~50% ISCCPLUS** bio-circular attributed mass balance feedstock. These products are then combined with Vita’s recycled polyol formula to produce sustainable foam.

The nature of the development of these products allows us and our partners to create products with a reduced impact on the environment whilst still offering the same high quality, durability and comfort that customers expect from our products. To substantiate the environmental impact reduction and offer customers the service of understanding this impact, we have developed a Life Cycle Analysis model using scientific methods and sound, attributed data sources to quantify the environmental footprint of Vita products. This demonstrates our commitment to a science-based approach and will help increase transparency across the value chain.

Our science-based approach to environmental claims and pioneering Life Cycle methodologies can help define the new standard for the flexible PU industry. The VitaFirst mattress combines Vita’s Orbis Plus MB and Novus sustainable technologies that result in more than 40% CO2 reduction compared to a conventional Vita PU foam mattress. All LCA analysis was carried out in accordance with the protocols of ISO 14044 by independent third parties.

Ian Robb, Chief Executive Officer, The Vita Group, said: “It was a fantastic experience to attend, exhibit and present at Interzum 2023. Our industry is making incredible strides in sustainability, and it was inspiring to both share our story and hear the progress our peers are making too. That four of our concept products were recognised for their achievements in this area is a source of immense pride and encourages us to continue our trajectory of exploring solutions with advanced sustainable properties.”

Our commitment to sustainability is also demonstrated by its alignment with several leading international organisations, driving global net-zero ambitions. Examples of this commitment include:

• Becoming the first and only flexible polyurethane manufacturer to have their emission reduction targets validated by independent climate scientists through the carbon-cutting initiative, Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
• This approach has contributed to us being awarded a Gold Sustainability Rating from EcoVadis, the world’s most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, ranking The Vita Group in the top 3% of assessed organisations worldwide.
• Becoming a signatory of the UN’s Global Compact and Race to Zero initiative.
• Aligning our ESG reporting to the highest standards with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)