Over half of the population (56 per cent) have thrown out furniture in the last 12 months, even though a quarter would have kept it if they knew how to repair or reuse it, according to research from Ikea.
The Swedish retail giant today released its annual People & Planet Positive report, finding it’s possible that Australians have thrown away 13.5 million pieces of furniture that could instead be recycled, reused or repaired and given a second-life.
According to the report, 81 per cent of Australians have never heard of the circular economy.
While 34 per cent of Australians said they are planning to buy furniture in the next 12 months with the majority (67 per cent) happy to purchase used furniture; of the 34 per cent that said they wouldn’t purchase used furniture, 60 per cent would reconsider their decision if the furniture had been restored by professionals and was safe to use.
Ikea today also launched its first Circular Living Pop-up Store at its Tempe store in Sydney, which will be open for eight weeks, where in exchange for a voucher, consumers can now give their unwanted Ikea furniture back for it to be sold on to a new customer.
The retailer will also run sustainability workshops, educating customers on the importance and value of the circular economy.
“Ikea is focused on ensuring all our products are designed from the very beginning with the intention to be repaired, reused, resold and eventually recycled,” said Kate Ringvall, sustainability manager at Ikea Australia.
“In fact, 60 per cent of our range is currently based on renewable materials. Our utmost priority is to generate as little waste as possible, but we can’t do it alone – it takes government, business, industry and the entire community to make a difference.”
The World Economic Forum puts the potential worldwide economic benefit of the circular economy at one trillion USD annually.
In the last financial year, Ikea diverted 79 per cent of its waste from landfill and installed almost 20000 solar panels across its stores in Australia. The panels would generate enough solar energy to power 967 homes for an entire year.
During the current financial year, it has recycled almost 4400 tonnes of cardboard across its stores.
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