a method of producing a thermoplastic polyurethane compound including a polyurethane powder comprising microcellular polyurethane . the method minimizes discarding scrap mcu , reduces the cost of tpu articles by introducing a partial replacement for the tpu resin , and reduces injection - molding times to produce tpu articles . the tpu compound including polyurethane powder has superior melt temperature and compression set properties as compared to tpu compounds of similar shore hardness that are free of the polyurethane powder . the invention also provides a tpu article including the tpu compound and a method of recycling a mcu foam .