Following suit behind other companies such as Aldi and Unilever, IKEA has set their sights on tackling their own plastic pollution footprint, with plans to eliminate it from their consumer packaging by the year 2028.
Despite challenges and setbacks, Swedish furniture company Ikea are determined to bring their sustainability plans into full swing, with collaboration across the board from engineering teams and the product development teams, to help develop effective packaging solutions. Beginning as soon as 2025, the new range of packaging will be introduced, as the phase-out of plastic packaging commences, where it will eventually be eliminated (with rare exceptions, such as for specific food items where it is needed to secure food quality and safety standards). However after 2028, it is planned this use of plastic will be sourced from renewed or recycled sources.
Packaging plays a huge role in the everyday functioning of IKEA as a business, as packaging is constantly needed to transport and deliver their wide range of furniture. Each year the Swedish furniture business spends over 1 billion Euros on an estimated 920,000 tonnes of packaging material. However only 10% of this packaging is actually plastic, and with further plans for reduction of use, IKEA hopes that they can push towards a future where all of their packaging is made from renewable or recycled materials.
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“The shift will happen progressively over the coming years, and mainly be focusing on paper as it is both recyclable, renewable, and widely recycled across the world” says Erik Olsen, Packaging & Identification Manager at IKEA of Sweden.