Today too much plastic and textiles end up in oceans and landfills. For IKEA these materials are not waste but valuable resources that can be used again and again. As one step on the way towards becoming a circular business IKEA aims at replacing all virgin polyester textile products with recycled polyester by 2020.
IKEA is committed to end the dependency on virgin fossil materials and use only renewable or recycled materials by 2030. By switching from virgin polyester to recycled IKEA will contribute to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, decrease pollution of landfills and oceans and using fewer resources by turning waste into products.
Today 50 percent of all polyester textile products produced by IKEA are made of recycled polyester, and through innovations and new designs all products will be by next year. Already today IKEA use the equivalent of 5 billion collected and recycled PET bottles in its textile product range.
“We realise that aiming to replace all virgin polyester with recycled by 2020 is a bold target, and we know that it´s not an easy road ahead of us. But we are committed to ending our dependency on virgin fossil materials by 2030, and this is one important step on the way.” says Nils Månsson, Material & Innovation Deployment Leader at IKEA of Sweden.
Through its size and business set-up IKEA can influence a positive change in the world and also inspire others to follow. This will lead to bigger efforts to secure that bottles and food containers are collected and brought back into the recycling industry. Efforts to enable recycling of polyester based textiles will also increase.
“From our own history we know that when we overcome challenges it becomes opportunities. By recycling PET products, we’re giving them a second life. We also hope to inspire others to follow for a greater positive impact on people and planet”, says Nils Månsson Material & Innovation Deployment Leader.
PET* is considered a highly recyclable plastic, and a kilogram of recycled polyester has half the CO2 footprint of that for virgin polyester.