Inside IKEA: How it is Moving To A Circular Economy

Moving towards a circular economy and reducing reliance on raw materials could bring many benefits, but is not an easy challenge.

Hege Sæbjørnsen is Global Circular Strategy Transformation Leader at Ingka Group, the largest IKEA franchisee, and is working to accelerate this transition.

“The whole economy is linear; for 200 years, industrial systems have been designed to take resources, manufacture products, sell them, and not think about what happens at the end," she says. 

Hege says it is her job to make sense of the complexity, translate it and turn it into action to simplify it for different parts of the business.

What benefits could a circular economy bring?

The European Parliament wants to switch to a circular economy by 2050.

It says the benefits will include:

• Protecting the environment by slowing down the use of natural resources and reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing raw material independence - according to Eurostat, each European consumed 14.9 tonnes of raw materials in 2022, with imports and exports costing the EU US$193bn in 2023
• Increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth and creating jobs.

Ingka Group has more than 9500 products that have been assessed for circularity, with many commitments to help increase this number.

The business hopes that its efforts can support the EU's circularity efforts.

About IKEA’s circular strategy leader

Hege Sæbjørnsen has worked in the sustainability sector at IKEA for more than 10 years.

She started as the Sustainability Expansion Manager before taking on the responsibility of Global Circular Strategy and Transformation Leader for the company. 

Hege is responsible for the business' circularity strategy, building and leading cross functional networks and working groups and overseeing running business growth as well as innovation portfolios.

She earned a BA in Graphic Design and Fine Art Lens Media from University of the Arts London, an MA in Media, Image and Communication and a range of sustainability qualifications from institutions including the University of Cambridge.

What is IKEA doing to move towards circularity?

IKEA has four key commitments to circularity:

• The company designs all products with circular capabilities. All products are designed from the beginning to be reused, refurbished, remanufactured and, as a last resort, recycled. For instance, the business offers extendable beds that are designed to grow with a child which stops the need to replace beds as children grow up
• Using renewable or recycled materials. The company now uses bio-based glue made from corn starch which has a lower climate footprint than fossil based raw materials 
• Developing more circular services. The company is growing the number of IKEA markets that can buy back furniture and selling assembly parts to continue the use of furniture if parts are lost
• Collaborating with other businesses. The company has more than 1600 suppliers and is working with them to minimise the environmental footprint of its supply chain.

Hege says: “There’s a line I love from IKEA: ‘complexity for the few, simplicity for the many.’

“It’s not to undermine people but to recognise that businesses developing products and services need to understand people’s needs and create affordable, sustainable options. 

“We cannot expect people with busy lives to figure it all out alone. It requires partnership, and we are working towards this at IKEA and Ingka.”

What challenges does IKEA face in circularity?

Hege says that the biggest challenge that IKEA faces is the complexity of circularity.

She says that circularity is constantly evolving as a systematic topic inter-connecting with finance, nature, climate and social dimensions. 

Hege says: “Internally, sustainability has moved from an operational topic to a core strategic approach, with circularity embedded across the value chain, from material choices to product design, services for prolonging product life, campaigns, advocacy and investment in recycling capacity.

“It has been a phenomenal change, but pragmatically, there’s still a long way to go to scale initiatives, reflecting where most companies are on circularity.”