Is Ikea more than the land of cheap furniture and good meatballs? After doing a bit more digging, I was surprised to learn that Ikea has committed to the ambitious goal of offering only 100% circular products. They are striving to transform the traditional “take, make, waste” linear model into a “reuse, refurbish, remanufacture, recycle” circular model.
Ikea’s Design Principles
In class, we discussed how making a product circular often begins at the design stage and considers the product’s entire life cycle. Ikea has several design principles that they believe will help them achieve 100% circularity by 2030. One of these principles is designing with recyclable materials which means choosing materials that can be easily separated in industrial recycling processes. Another design principle I thought was interesting is standardization. As described by Ikea, designing for standardization entails creating preconditions so a product can be reused, refurbished, or remanufactured more efficiently, maximizing the material’s full value. Standardizing in the design process can ultimately lead to reduced waste as parts are compatible and can be replaced or reused across different products. To learn more about their design principles, please visit Ikea’s sustainability page.
However, I remain a bit critical of Ikea’s sustainability goals. Ikea could be seen as the fast fashion of the furniture industry, churning out new items every season with many products arguably designed for obsolescence as they are made with cheap materials. While I am a bit skeptical of this goal, I think Ikea is heading in the right direction and is making the effort to embrace the circular economy. As a leader in the home and furniture industry, I hope Ikea’s commitment towards circularity inspires others to follow suit.
