IKEA announces sustainability strategy and commitments to become people and planet positive by 2030

In particular, IKEA committed to remove all single-use plastic products from the IKEA range globally, and from customer and co-worker restaurants in stores operated by IKEA Group by 2020. Single-use plastic can pollute ecosystems and harm wildlife when it is not disposed of responsibly. In May 2018, the European Commission also proposed a ban on many single-use plastic items to reduce ocean waste.

Examples of plastic or plastic-coated products that will be removed from the home furnishing range include straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, garbage bags, plastic-coated paper plates and cups. IKEA Group will also phase out single-use plastic items offered in customer and co-worker restaurants, bistros and cafes across its operations in all 29 markets. These items include plastic straws, cups, cutlery and beverage stirrers. IKEA has the ambition to find a more sustainable alternative to replace the existing single-use plastic items by 1 January 2020.

”Through our size and reach, we have the opportunity to inspire more than one billion people to live better lives within the limits of the planet,” said Inter IKEA Group CEO, Torbjörn Lööf. ”To become truly circular, we will design all products from the very beginning to be repurposed, repaired, reused, resold and recycled,” he added.

Commitments for 2030 also include:
● Designing all IKEA products with new circular principles, with the goal to only use renewable and recycled materials
● Increasing the proportion of plant-based choices in the IKEA Food offer
● Becoming climate positive and reducing the total IKEA climate footprint by an average of 70% per product
● Achieving zero emissions home deliveries by 2025 for IKEA Group

For information on sustainability performance to date, see the Inter IKEA Group and IKEA Group Sustainability Report FY17.