Ikea holding invests billion euros in recycling

Ingka Group, the holding company that operates most Ikea shops, says it wants to invest a billion euros in recycling companies to improve waste disposal infrastructure. The furniture giant even has its own investment vehicle for it: Circular Investments.

Old mattresses and plastics

Circular Investments was founded in 2017, but now has stated its ambitions to make quite a few acquisitions. Ingka Group wants to focus on companies that prevent waste or provide recycled materials: it has already invested in Dutch company RetourMatras, which recycles mattresses, and Morssinkhof Rymoplast, a recycler of household plastics.

The retail holding company wants to recycle as many products as Ikea sells by 2030, in line with the company’s broader sustainability strategy. Currently, less than 20 % of global waste is recycled, while natural resource consumption is 75 % higher than what the Earth can regenerate annually, the Swedish group points out.

Since its inception, Ingka Investments has focused on strategic sectors such as plastics, mattresses, textiles, wood and food waste. It claims to have achieved tangible results: companies in its portfolio have recycled an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of materials and avoided 9.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions.