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How we work with chemicals

Chemicals are useful in many ways – they bring colours and texture to materials, glue parts together, and can provide a protective layer to make products last longer. All chemicals used in or for making IKEA products should be safe for people and the planet. We want our customers to know which chemicals our products contain, and to feel comfortable about bringing them into their homes. Here’s how we do it.

Increasing information on the chemical content of products

To help customers make an informed choice, we’re increasing transparency about our products. Information about chemicals can now be found on specific items, such as chrome-free leather sofas available in IKEA stores in the US, and on the local IKEA websites in some countries.

A child walking through a room divider with an open hole in the middle symbolising a lion’s mouth.
By not using harmful chemicals in our products we give them a longer life as they become safe to recycle and re-use

Checking in and phasing out

We have strict requirements that we apply to all products. All chemicals used in, or for making IKEA products should be safe for customers, co-workers and the environment, and take into account the lifecycle of the product. For children’s products, our requirements are even stricter. We test all our children’s products at our own accredited test laboratory in Sweden, as well as at independent accredited test laboratories and institutes around the world.

For many years, we have engaged in research on chemical safety. Our chemical standards regularly go beyond legal requirements, often phasing out chemicals that are suspected of being harmful in advance of legislation. Some examples are lead, flame retardants, PVC and formaldehydes in colours and lacquers.

On our journey towards becoming a fully circular business, minimising exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is vital.

A little boy with headphones sitting on a sofa reading on a tablet.
No perfluorinated chemicals, such as PFOS, PFOA, PFOSA) are used in our sofa covers

Ensuring supplier safety and compliance

To make sure we keep our value chain free from any harmful substances, we use specific routines for securing the manufacturing process. All IKEA suppliers and service providers must follow our defined minimum requirements when working with chemicals. To ensure these requirements are followed, we carry out random checks on site, as well as tests by third party independent test laboratories.

A woman going through a chart with textile samples in green.
We always strive to minimise the use of chemicals in the production of textiles

Increasing awareness among co-workers, consumers and partners

We want everyone in our value chain to be able to easily get information about our work with chemicals. On our journey towards becoming a fully circular business, minimising exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is vital. For example, we will not accept that recycling happens at the expense of chemical safety. This is an on-going journey and as we find new evidence and better ways of doing things, we regularly communicate and share these findings with co-workers, consumers and partners.