A groundbreaking announcement was made yesterday: IKEA will from now on design all its products with new circular principles with the goal to only use renewable and recycled materials. Practically, how is this possible?
IKEA needs plastic to make its products. Instead of using plastics made from 100% fossil oil, they will mix it up with bio-based renewable resources. These bio-based renewable resources will come from renewable residue and waste raw materials, such as used cooking oil and sustainably-produced vegetable oils. It’s the beginning of the commercialisation and industrialisation of Bio-based Polyprophylene or Bio-Polyprophylene (Bio-PP).
NESTE seem to be the partner chosen by IKEA to realise this ambitious project.
In the beginning, the bio-PP will contain 20 % renewable content to start with and the production will begin during fall 2018.
IKEA will use the new plastic in products that are part of the current product range, such as plastic storage boxes, starting with a limited number of products. As capacities improve, more products will follow. IKEA is working to change all of the plastic used in IKEA products to plastic based on recycled and/or renewable materials by 2030.
PP and PE plastic are some of the most commonly used plastics. It may well be that Neste is sitting on a goldmine. If this project succeeds, then Neste will hit the jackpot as many more companies will want to surf on this wave.
Erik Ljungblad, Category Manager Plastic Products at IKEA of Sweden made the following statement:
“This new material represents a significant step towards a fossil free future. No one has ever before been able to produce PP plastic from a fossil-free raw material other than on a laboratory scale. Together with Neste we are ensuring that there is an opportunity to scale up the production of this material.”
Senior Vice President Tuomas Hyyryläinen from Neste’s made following statement:
“The production of bio-based plastics at a commercial scale is a major achievement in the cooperation between Neste and IKEA, while it also marks a significant milestone in Neste’s strategy. IKEA is the first company to benefit from the developed supply capability that helps companies and brand owners towards replacing fossil-based raw materials with sustainable bio-based raw materials,”
Last but not least, IKEA made another promise
- Removing all single-use plastic products from the IKEA range globally and from customer and co-worker restaurants in stores by 2020
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