IKEA Are They Green Or Not?

by David Allen on Friday, January 30th, 2009

The Swedish based furniture and lifestyle store, IKEA has been on occasions called a landfill waste generator. This due to the amount of paper and card that they use in packaging of their furniture, and the fact that some people believe that Ikea product are not built to last.

Yet the company have been working towards sustainability since 1999, this is when they first released their environmental priorities, clearly these would have changed over the last ten years, but that is the point, IKEA have been aware of the issues that concern people for a long time. So is IKEA green or not?

Source [Inhabitat]

Keetsa Buzz Videos

Rate

Loading ...

Tags: environmental priorities, Furniture, ikea, landfill waste, lifestyle store, Sustainability, waste generator

Categories: Arts and Entertainment, Buildings, Business, Consumerism, Eco Friendly, stores.

Related News and Resources

Ikea Invest in Solar Power

UK Ikeas Get Hybrid Fleet

IKEA About to Launch a Car!

Bamboo Mini Blind from IKEA

Custom built eco friendly furniture

The Willow Chair: An Environmentally Green Hobby

Top 5 Green Eco-Furniture for 2007

zBoards Green Building Blocks

Patrick

Ikea has done some great things to lessen its company's impact on the environment. The only problem I have is that if they are going to use cardboard product instead of wood, their products are not going to last as long and probably end up landfilles in a few years. Just because it can be recycled doesn't mean it is better for our environment. I would prefer real wood that comes from sustainable forests and is going to last for years to come.

James

I totally hear you Patrick, it's a common concern. In fact it's something I focused on in the latest installment of my blog series on the IKEA/Obama comparison: http://www.ikeafans.com/blog/tag/obama/ .

The fact is that People WILL buy cheap furniture, and IKEA DOES make it, but they also make some really nice, really durable products. I think you'd be amazed at the level of commitment IKEA has company wide to environmental impact. I'd rather the folks that are going to buy cheap furniture buy it from a company that gives a damn about the impact... From talking to a lot of IKEA co-workers and going on the behind the scenes tours, I can absolutely guarantee that IKEA is more committed to sustainability than Walmart and Target! ;-). And and ask anyone with a Poang chair or IKEA Kitchen about the durability of their products :).

Most Commented Last 30 Days

Archives