Our circular agenda
IKEA is transitioning towards a circular business. This is a systemic approach that impacts every aspect of the IKEA business: from how and what products and services we develop, how and what materials we source, to how and where we meet our customers. As a business reliant on natural resources and people, transiting towards a circular business means that we can secure the future of the IKEA business and value chain, and the livelihoods of the millions of people that contribute to it.
9500+
products have been assessed for circularity.
23.16 million
assembly parts were offered to customers in FY23 to extend the life of their IKEA products.
There’s a growing awareness of the impact humanity has on the planet; it shapes the way people value the things they own, what they care about, and how they make buying decisions. No one wants to be wasteful, but people struggle with how to maintain, repair, and eventually pass on things they believe still have value. At the same time, many can’t afford what they need for everyday living.
We’ll continue to make products affordable and accessible by developing circular services and solutions for customers who want to care for the products they already own, those who can’t afford or don’t want to buy new products, and those who want to pass things on. We will never compromise on quality and safety.
Our commitments:
Designing all products with circular capabilities
By embedding circular design principles in Democratic Design, we will design products from the beginning to be reused, refurbished, remanufactured and as a last resort recycled. This means, we design for renewable or recycled materials, standardisation, care, repair, adaptability, disassembly and reassembly, remanufacturing, and recyclability.
Designed to move and grow with you
A key enabler to prolonging the life of products is built-in, easy-fix flexibility. One example is the wedge dowel, a click-technique that eases the assembly, disassembly and eventual reassembly of IKEA furniture so the customer can take it with them when they move. Another example is extendable beds that are designed to grow with your child for many years.
Circular design that’s adaptable
When we design for standardisation and adaptability, it ensures products can be reused and refurbished through scalable maintenance and repair services. Standardised parts also allow remanufacturing by reusing parts in other products. At IKEA, we are creating circular solutions for existing and new customers to acquire, care for and pass on products.
Using renewable or recycled materials
Materials used in IKEA products accounts for almost half of the IKEA climate footprint. We aim to only use recycled and renewable materials, with a specific focus on increasing the share of recycled content in IKEA products. By working with others and challenging ourselves, our aim is not only to provide new innovations and solutions for customers to prolong the life of products and materials, but also to transform how the industries work.
Different glue, same result
Glue is an essential part of making particleboard, and particleboard is essential in making affordable and desirable furniture for the many people.
Bio-based glue made from corn starch, has the same performance as glue made with fossil based raw materials, but has a lower climate footprint.
It creates the same high-performing board, produced at high production speeds to keep costs as low as possible – so different but the same!
The impossible is now possible!
We use fibreboard to make wood-based furniture, such as kitchens, cabinet doors and picture frames. Despite being versatile, fibreboard has not, until now, been recyclable, unlike particleboard. However, IKEA has developed a recycling technology for fibreboard. It is a fragile process, where the wood fibres need to be kept at the required length throughout to ensure the performance of the final board.
SMEVIKEN and SUTTERVIKEN is an excellent example of a product made from recycled fibreboard, part of the circular loop where waste and broken furniture become new products.
Recycled cotton at IKEA
Recycled cotton is at IKEA defined as cotton recovered from hard cotton waste, such as yarns, fabrics, garments etc and sourced according to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS).
Recycled cotton is used together with virgin cotton in some IKEA products for home textiles as well as bed textiles. Some bedlinen examples are ÄNGSLILJA (20% recycled cotton) and BERGPALM (12% recycled cotton).
Alternatives and end-of-life solutions for foam
We aim to use only renewable or recycled materials. At IKEA we have been taking the lead in challenging the industry to make movements in foam production, to not be dependent on virgin fossil-based sources. We work on increasing the amount of recycled content in the foam to reduce the dependency of virgin fossil foam. Through improved design and innovation, we reduce the amount of foam in our mattresses, but at the same time increase comfort by focusing more on the design of springs.
Ingka, the largest IKEA retailer, has been piloting a takeback of mattresses in the Netherlands since 2021.
Developing more circular services
As always, nobody can do everything alone – which is why we need to develop long term relationships with our customers and co-create the future together. To do this, we are testing and developing services and solutions. We want to enable customers to prolong the life of their IKEA products through convenient solutions that inspire people to acquire, care for, and pass them on in circular ways.
Creating markets for second-hand items
A growing number of IKEA markets buy back IKEA furniture from customers who no longer need it, and re-sell these good-quality second-hand items to new customers in the As-Is areas. IKEA Sweden has tested an innovative pop-up store stocked entirely with second-hand IKEA products. Experiences from this test will be used to learn more about the potential of this service.
Making it easier to prolong product life
Customers can order assembly parts (i.e. nuts, bolts and screws that are shown in assembly instructions) through an online tool. In FY23, we provided 23.16 million assembly parts to enable customers to prolong the lifespans of IKEA products (FY22: 21.5 million).
Joining forces with others and leading by example
At IKEA, we want to lead by example, influence change, and share our stories and insights while listening and learning from others. We work with long-term commitments and relationships with suppliers, business partners, NGOs, communities and different stakeholders around the world. All to accelerate the transformation from a linear to a circular economy.
We work with more than 1,600 suppliers to minimise the environmental footprint of the IKEA supply chain while improving working conditions.
IKEA partners and collaborators have become increasingly important in solving complex challenges. For example, we are collaborating with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) to establish a common language around circularity. In September 2021, EMF published a glossary of circular terms created in collaboration with IKEA.
Through our advocacy efforts, we support policymakers with knowledge and experience as they set the legislative foundation to enable a systemic transformation into a circular economy. We’re focusing on creating clarity as well as providing a factual basis for global common definitions and cross border regulatory alignment.