Published 07 June 2018 • Inter IKEA newsroom
IKEA joins forces with Altered to battle water scarcity
IKEA is partnering up with the innovative start-up company Altered to make a groundbreaking water saving solution available for the many. The agreement allows IKEA to use Altered’s patented technique and together develop an affordable water saving nozzle that can be fitted to all common taps, enabling customers to reduce water use by over 90 percent.
Today, about 1.1 billion people lack access to fresh water, and 2.7 billion people suffer water scarcity at least one month a year. IKEA is committed to becoming water positive by 2020 by reducing the impact in the supply chain and increase access to clean water. Part of this commitment is enabling IKEA customers to cut down on water use.
Approximately one tenth of the globally available fresh water is consumed in people’s homes. That’s why innovations in water-efficiency are becoming increasingly important. The water nozzle MISTELN that IKEA and Altered are developing can be fitted to all common taps. While regular taps use about 8 litres per minute, MISTELN lowers water usage to 0.25 litres per minute in mist mode, and approximately 1-5 litres in spray mode. “We are on a journey to make ground breaking water saving solutions available for the many people. Our aim is to partner up with innovative companies to develop solutions that reduce water consumption, recycle water, clean water and harvest energy from used water. We choose to collaborate with Altered because we had similar values, similar thinking around product design and because we realized that we would have a greater positive impact on the world if we worked together”, says Marie Olsson, business leader in Bedroom & Bathroom at IKEA of Sweden.
The agreement with Altered allows IKEA to use their patented technique and together develop an affordable water nozzle. Together, IKEA and Altered aim to set the price to about 5 Euro, thereby making it accessible for the many people. The aim is to sales start MISTELN water nozzle in August 2019 on all IKEA markets.
“Our mission is to redefine water saving for everyone. So making our technology available for IKEA was not only an opportunity, but rather something we had to do. Creating a solution that is more affordable, and thereby accessible for many more people. Water stress is not a single solution problem. It will take thousands of solutions for us to truly have an impact on the issue. This is one solution that we are proud to be part of,” says Johan Nihlén, CEO of Altered.”
About Altered Altered is a Swedish innovation company that provides low effort-high impact solutions for your everyday habits. With our Scandinavian heritage we embrace the positive sides and benefits of problems and challenges. We believe in equality, simplicity and sympathy. Our mission is to make things smarter in order to alter things for the better. It's a conscious choice and an exciting journey of discovery and innovation. Find out more about Altered.