Ikea to trial renting furniture

Ikea is to trial a new renting scheme for office furniture such as desks and chairs in an attempt to help customers “make the circular economy a reality“.

The pilot project is to start in Switzerland, but if the new model proves popular among business customers it could be rolled out across other countries and extended to home furniture.

Ikea has already introduced a range of circular initiatives in the UK, including second life return options for furniture, and in 2018 sent zero waste to landfill for the third year in a row.

The latest project is part of the company's efforts to become a fully circular business by 2030.

A spokesperson said: “We have an ambition to inspire and enable people to play an active role, which we can support by developing new ways for people to buy, care for and pass on products.

'In order to become a fully circular business by 2030, this can only be achieved through collaboration. In addition to working with customers, we are partnering with stakeholders to work together and share experiences.“

This comes after IKEA announced last year that it plans to remove single-use plastics from all its global stores and restaurants by 2020 in a bid to “inspire sustainable living“.

The company has also pledged to only use renewable and recycled materials by 2030, and will incorporate circular economy principles into the design of all new products.

Moreover, it said it would become 'climate positive' during that time by reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than its value chain emits, cutting each product's climate footprint by an average of 70%.

“Becoming truly circular means meeting people's changing lifestyles, prolonging the life of products and materials and using resources in a smarter way,“ Inter IKEA Group sustainability manager, Lena Pripp-Kovac, said.

“To make this a reality, we will design all products from the very beginning to be repurposed, repaired, reused, resold and recycled.“

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