IKEA breaks new ground

31 March 2010

Recent days have seen Ikea, the world's leading furniture retailer, raising the bar for sustainability in the business sector, through the launch of a groundbreaking initiative.

The Never Ending List is Ikea's ongoing, global commitment to becoming a more sustainable organisation, and comprises nearly 100 business and product-related initiatives aimed at areas where the company can make an impact. These cover products and materials, suppliers, energy and transport, and community involvement.

The move corroborates newly released Newspoll research commissioned by Ikea that found nearly three quarters of Australians consider the environment when making purchasing decisions. Meanwhile, around 50 per cent are likely to be influenced by a company's social and environmental practises.

The research also showed over half of Australians believe companies rather than individuals should engage in more concerted efforts to protect the environment.

Ikea Australia's country manager David Hood commented that Australian consumers were becoming increasingly discerning in terms of their purchasing decisions with regard to protecting the environment.

"Our research shows Australians are demanding that businesses have a stronger stance on issues concerning sustainability," he said. "At Ikea we recognise that until this point we have potentially been part of the problem. The Never Ending List is our commitment to contribute to the solution. This means that we will constantly review what we are doing and how we are doing it to ensure we have as little impact on the social and natural environments as possible.

"Whether the changes we make are small, like using off cuts from quilts to stuff pillows or making bowls from natural resources like bamboo and banana fibre; to more significant changes including store design, waste management, increasing our commitment to our social partners Unicef, Save the Children and WWF, or extending our flat pack offering, our never ending list is our long-term commitment to do more."

 

Comments

Phaedrus Benalla

Great start Ikea. Now you'll be applying that to the fabrics and furnishings you carry. You will be excluding acrylics, nylons and other synthetic fibres from your ranges of curtains and drapes and furniture coverings. Using biodegradable fabrics that are locally manufactured will be a big start. Well done.

rosemary pollock kis sustainable design

more manufacturers of sofas and chairs should be excluding all polyesters in favour of hemp ,linen,bamboo,or recycled products .

Dee Aldemir

Go IKEA! Worked for them for 7 years! Still going strong!

Concerned Citizen of the world

I am really concerned that there are still people out there that think its "green" using millions of gallons of precious water + using deadly chemicals to bleach and clean so called "natural' + recycled fabrics - not to mentioned the destruction of habitiat , use of herbicides, insecticides and fungusides for cottons, linens, hemp etc and the bi product of methane gas for other materials sources like wool. Caredfully consider fabric that is fit for purpose. Some man made products such as polyesters can outlast the 'natural' counterparts can 3 to 1. Beware the "Green washing" debate. All products have their own good and bad features and all should be carefully considered.

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