Chair pads or cushions can be stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fibre, non-woven material or even paper torn into fragments.
Most old chair pads are filled with polyurethane foam, which is not biodegradable. Polyurethane is flammable, so it is treated with flame retardants that often contain hazardous chemicals.
Newer ones may be made from latex foam (harvested from rubber trees), coconut fibre foam, organic wool, feathers and down, and cotton.
Recover your worn chair pads rather than replace them.
Reduce the impact on the environment by choosing chair pads made from organic, biodegradable materials.
Take your clean, pre-loved chair pads to a charity/secondhand shop.
If the chair pad fill only is reusable, remove from its cover and take to a charity/secondhand shop.
If the materials cannot be reused, dispose to landfill.