Following a €3bn investment in sustainability by IKEA Group, IKEA UK & IE has released its annual Sustainability Report, which shows the home furnishing retailer has achieved zero waste to landfill.
In the UK & Ireland IKEA achieved zero waste to landfill and recycled 90.6% of the 33,944 tonnes of waste produced, with 9.4% being used for energy recovery.
The retailer continued to produce energy from renewable sources, generating renewable energy equivalent to 43.4% of the energy it used.
By 2020, worldwide IKEA aims to produce as much energy from renewable sources as the energy it consumes across all operations.
IKEA opened its Reading store in July 2016, its most sustainable store to date, it says, achieving an “excellent” BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) status and boasting many energy- and water-saving features.
“Sustainability is vital to our continued business success and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved to date. Helping our customers and co-workers to live more sustainably and having a positive impact on the planet is an ongoing goal. There are many exciting plans in the pipeline to help us to continue to do that.”
Sustainable expansion is a key focus for IKEA and the forthcoming Sheffield store, due to open in summer 2017, will be IKEA’s most energy-efficient store yet.
Last year IKEA UK planted its millionth tree in partnership with the Woodland Trust. If all the trees IKEA UK has planted were lined up 1.5 metres apart, they would stretch from Wembley in London to Småland in Sweden (where the first IKEA store was built), it says.
IKEA UK Country Retail Manager Gillian Drakeford comments: “Sustainability is vital to our continued business success and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved to date. Helping our customers and co-workers to live more sustainably and having a positive impact on the planet is an ongoing goal. There are many exciting plans in the pipeline to help us to continue to do that.”
The leading home furnishing retailer continued to support its customers to live more sustainably, with an +13.3% increase in sales of sustainable living products (designed to help households save energy and water, reduce and recycle waste and live more healthily) totalling £76.8m
IKEA transformed its entire lighting range to energy-saving LED and sold almost 2.3 million LED bulbs in the UK and Ireland.This led to savings of £19.5m in household energy bills, avoiding the emission of 42,317 tonnes of CO2.
IKEA also introduced hydroponic home-growing systems to its range, enabling customers to grow fresh vegetables without the need for soil or sunlight, avoiding food miles and helping combat some of the seven million tonnes of food wasted each year in the UK.
IKEA continued to invest in the second year of its Live LAGOM programme – a unique three-year project run in conjunction with sustainability charity Hubbub and the University of Surrey – that challenges customers and co-workers to live with “just the right amount”. Last year the business helped 250 customers, co-workers and bloggers to save on household utility bills, reduce waste and live a healthier lifestyle, and generated a wealth of insights into how UK households can live more sustainably.
As part of its Live LAGOM programme, IKEA is calling on its customers and co-workers to make a New Year’s resolution to live more sustainably. Just like living “lagom”, IKEA is encouraging people to make small changes to their lifestyle that have a big impact on the planet.
Joanna Yarrow, Head of Sustainability for IKEA UK & Ireland, said: “Sustainability is important to everyone at IKEA – it’s part of our day job whichever department we work in. The entire business is focused on making our ambitions reality and it’s fantastic to witness such positive change over the last year.
“We’re looking forward to working together with customers and co-workers in 2017 to find even more ways to live more sustainably and make a big difference to both people and the planet.”
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