Published 02 September 2021 • Inter IKEA newsroom

IKEA releases circular blueprint to inspire and accelerate circular movement

IKEA is on the journey to design all products with built-in circular capabilities by 2030. After assessing over 9,500 products\*, IKEA is now sharing its methodology and insights to inspire and engage designers and accelerate the movement towards a circular economy.

This has been summarized into the circular blueprint and is shared through an online interactive tool. Through this easy-to-use interactive tool, IKEA hopes to enable a consistent and simple way to measure the different product types for their circular capabilities, from big, bulky furniture to smaller, decorative products. Users can choose a product, answer questions about the different aspects of circular design, and at the end, receive an approximate score for how circular their product is.

“Circular product design is at the forefront of the discussion about circularity. By sharing our blueprint through an easy-to-use interactive platform, we want to convey the insights we have gained so far and share them with anyone who is interested in circular product design. This is our take on what circular product design means and how to navigate this approach, ” says Mirza Rasidovic, Range Engineering Leader, IKEA of Sweden. “It can be used by everyone – designers, companies, and anyone who wants to assess the furniture and home furnishing products they already have at home. All while getting to know more about circular product design and circularity in general.”

IKEA has been working with circularity for many years, with the ambition to become a circular business by 2030, by adapting how and where we meet customers, how and what products and services we develop, to how and what materials we source and how we develop the complete IKEA value chain. In 2019, the IKEA Circular Product Design Guide was shared openly, reflecting the IKEA take on home furnishing design that generates as little waste as possible and enables a systemic shift towards a circular economy. It has also been a guiding star during the assessments of how well the IKEA products fulfill the circular product design ambitions already today.

“Designing products to be repurposed, repaired, reused, resold, or as the last resort recycled from the very beginning is not always easy, but an essential element in enabling a transformation toward a circular economy, and bringing IKEA toward fulfilling our ambitious climate and circularity goals,” says Lena Pripp-Kovac, Chief Sustainability Officer, Inter IKEA Group. “We also understand circularity is not something we can achieve alone. Together, we can make a real, lasting impact on a large scale.”

\* IKEA has assessed more than 9500 articles for circular capability, except for the Home Smart, Lighting, and Appliance ranges.