MGT Ecoline: a unique technology for PU recycling

With a view to increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly production, on the occasion of the A+A 2023, the Italian Main Group presented to the market MGT Ecoline, a new technology that allows polyurethane waste to be recovered and reintroduced into the footwear production cycle.

Until a few years ago, it was not possible to recycle this material,” explains Davide Silvestrin, from the Technical Service of the Veneto-based technology company, “Main Group has found a way to treat it so that it can be reintroduced into the production circuit, bringing environmental and economic benefits”.

With a new peripheral system, which is added to Main Group’s machines, it is now possible to recover polyurethane production waste that until now could not be reintroduced into the process and had to be thrown away: a waste of material that impacts both environmentally and economically. As for quality, soles made from recycled polyurethane are no different from those made from virgin material in terms of physical-mechanical characteristics and therefore technical performance.

Thanks to new technologies, in recent years Main Group has made it possible to recover and reuse many materials used in the production of shoe soles such as Eva and rubber, to which polyurethane is now added, adding a strategic asset within the footwear machinery market.