The investment arm of furniture retailer Ikea has said its ambition is to direct €1 billion towards companies increasing recycling infrastructure.
Ingka Investments, the investments arm of the largest Ikea retailer, Ingka Group, established a Circular Investments division in 2017 to invest in companies contributing to the transition to a circular economy. The focus at the time was to make a difference for plastics, mattresses, textiles, wood and food waste.
It reported this week that the group’s portfolio of companies have recycled around 2.7 million tonnes of materials overall in those seven years, which it said was the equivalent of more than 9.4 million tonnes of CO2e.
Lukas Visser, Circular Investments portfolio manager at Ingka Investments, commented: “To future proof our business we want to invest in financially and environmentally resilient companies.
“When a product’s life at home ends, Circular Investments begins. Ingka Investments is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy and retaining the value of materials. For us, that means investing in companies that are developing technology or growing capacity to prevent waste or supply recycled materials.”
Circular Investments portfolio examples
RetourMatras recycles mattresses transforming them into valuable materials for reuse. The company produces repoliol, a circular alternative to replace fossil-based materials in new foam products. Ikea uses the material in 31 upholstery and mattress product lines.
Morssinkhof Rymoplast, a post-consumer plastic recycler, produces recycled plastics for products. Ingka’s investment has contributed to Morssinkhof Rymoplast doubling its plastic recycling capacity to 515,000 tonnes per year. It has 11 recycling facilities in Belgium, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, and has started construction of two further sites in Belgium.
Next Generation Group is a group of companies supplying a range of plastic recycling solutions, as well as tools for the treatment of organic waste.
Peter van der Poel, managing director at Ingka Investments, remarked: “Our €1 billion ambition to invest in growing recycling infrastructure is crucial to Ingka Group’s broader sustainability strategy to go beyond our own operations.
“Through investments, we are committed to doing our part to ensure that valuable materials are recycled and reused in the production of new products. What would help us go further is if legislation was stronger at prioritising recycling over incineration and landfilling, for example by ensuring that Extended Producer Responsibility schemes were resulting in higher recycling rates.”
He added: “We also welcome eco-design regulations to encourage the demand for these recycled materials and we are actively collaborating with relevant authorities and other stakeholders to address these issues.”
Ingka said, every year, the global economy consumes 75% more natural resources than Earth can regenerate. This setup generates “tremendous amounts of waste”, it argued, with less than 20% apparently recycled.
With a concerted focus on investing in recycling infrastructure, Ingka and Ikea aim to help recycle more end-of-life products into secondary raw materials.
[image credit: CPG Photography on behalf of Ikea]
