Ikea pledges to become a circular business by 2030
Furniture group Ikea has marked World Environment Day (June 5) by announcing a target of becoming a circular business by 2030. It has set up a new strategic partnership with campaign organisation the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to achieve the aim.
On making the announcement, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer, Lena Pripp-Kovac, said that the company would seek to become a circular business by giving its products and materials a longer life through reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and, only as a last option, recycling. She added that Ikea did not want just to advance its own transition, but also to work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to help make the circular economy a central part of the entire home furnishing industry.
“This requires leadership and collaboration,” Ms Pripp-Kovac said. “One of our first projects together will be to develop a global common dictionary on the circular economy that can support an industry-wide transition.”
The company has already run trials to test the viability of refurbishing products. It refurbished some of its sofas and resold them, prolonging each product’s life. It has also developed circular design principles that it wants to apply to all of its products, with the ambition to use only renewable or recycled materials by 2030.
On welcoming the announcement, the secretary general of the leather industry’s representative body in the European Union, Gustavo Gonzalez Quijano, said: “Leather fits perfectly into this strategy.”
For his part, the chief executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Morlet, said: “We are delighted to partner with IKEA, who share our belief that through the circular economy, businesses can play a vital role in meeting many of the challenges we face today, such as climate change, waste and pollution. The circular economy empowers businesses to rethink how they create value, in ways that benefit the environment, society, and the economy.”
