The company’s Kungsbacka kitchen range, which is available in Ikea stores from this month uses a plastic ‘foil’ produced from PET – polyethylene therephalate – bottles, which is used as a coating for the wooden kitchen fronts.
Plastic used in the Kungsbacka kitchen fronts comes from PET-bottles collected by Japanese municipalities, whilst the wood comes from sources such as production waste.
The foil coats a particle board which is shaped, pre-edged, sanded and laminated and then edge-banded, drilled and packaged. A single 40x80cm Kungsbacka kitchen front uses 25 half-litre recycled PET-bottles, Ikea claims.
Products
Anna Granath, product developer at IKEA says: “What we do at IKEA has a big impact on the environment due to the large quantities we produce so by using recycled materials, we can create products which are more environmentally-friendly and sustainable.
“Our ambition at IKEA is to increase the share of recycled materials in our products so we are looking into new ways to re-use materials, such as paper, fibre, foam and plastic, so that we can give them a new life in a new product.”
David Vine, IKEA UK & Ireland kitchens business leader, added: “The new Kungsbacka range is a start in turning everyday waste into beautiful furniture. At IKEA we are very conscious of the impact of waste, knowing that plastic bottles take up to 1,000 years to decompose and that 70% of all PET bottles end up in either landfill or worse in our seas and oceans, is of concern. Today, 90% of waste created in the kitchen is recycled but few think about the kitchen itself, we hope that the launch of this range will help people to think about the materials that are in their home furnishings and create a more sustainable home setting.”
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