Leiden, Netherlands – Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, is to invest €1bn in companies aiming to improve recycling infrastructure. It hopes the investments will lead to more end-of-life products being recycled into secondary raw materials.
The company runs 400 Ikea stores in 31 countries. In 2017, it established Circular Investments, with the aim of investing in companies focused on the transition to a circular economy. Since then, it estimates that portfolio companies have recycled about 2.7MT of materials, avoiding more than 9.4MT of CO2 being emitted.
“To future-proof our business, we want to invest in financially and environmentally resilient companies,” said Lukas Visser, Circular Investments portfolio manager at Ingka Investments. “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.”
Investments the company has already made include in RetourMatras, which has facilities in the Netherlands, France and UK that make repolyol from 2.5m old mattresses a year. The repolyol is already used in 31 Ikea upholstery and mattress product lines.