Ah Tan Blog
2020-12-01
【Climate Innovation Stories】IKEA’s Circular Economy Strategy
Writer: Katia Wong
Black Friday is notoriously known for its association with overconsumption in recent years, a report in the U.K. says 80% of Black Friday purchases end up as waste very soon. IKEA has chosen to break away by launching a BuyBackFriday campaign in 27 countries this year. Items being brought back will be sold in store as second hand, or otherwise recycled by IKEA, while customers can also earn a coupon with a maximum 50% of the original product price. The company has planned to invest €3.2bn for completing the 2030 Carbon Neutral and Circular Economy company vision. Unfortunately, the campaign is unable to be launched in the U.S. - Black Friday’s origin and Asia area apart from Japan, but the company is setting goals in establishing furniture recycling and repairing sections globally, and its first wholly second-hand store ReTuna is opened on 2 November, while an office desk and furniture rental service has started in Switzerland and Taiwan. Apart from IKEA, many furniture and lifestyle brands such as Pentatonic are adopting reusable and recycled material, while simulating zero waste in their production process.
HAPPYSHOP and GREEN-DOT-HOME) and upcycled furniture (like WOODRITE and HKTIMERBANK), but furniture from mega retailers are usually unaccepted, and upcycled design is based on solid wood materials. Hong Kong’s annual municipal solid waste is recorded as 5.92 million tonnes (over half of the U.S. 9 million tonnes record!) and 42% of which is from households. IKEA’s company strategy might be an example of how value chains can shift consumption towards a circular economy.
References:
https://www.ecowatch.com/ikea-furniture-buyback-2648206729.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54531619