IKEA pilots textile take-back

Customers in Cardiff will bring in anything from clothing to soft furnishings bought at any of its stores to be reused, repaired or recycled.

There will also be workshops on how customers how can turn old textiles into something new as part of the project, the first IKEA textile take-back initiative in the UK.

The pilot, supported by sustainability not-for-profit charity WRAP, will see the Cardiff store donate all the textile products to the YMCA in the Roath area of the city centre.

The scheme will provide a range of textiles for people in the local community, including the homeless and low-income families.

Recent research by WRAP shows textiles are one of the least recycled commodities – the UK buys 1.7 million tonnes of textiles a year, with a third ending in landfill or in the incinerator.

Donated items will also be sold at YMCA charity shops, helping to raise money to support homeless services in Cardiff. Homeless and unemployed people will learn about recycling and retail.

The new scheme joins IKEA’s existing take-back services spanning sofas, batteries and light bulbs across all its stores in the UK and Ireland. IKEA may roll out the Cardiff project nationally.

WRAP is working with IKEA as part of an EU Life+ funded REBus initiative, which aims to help businesses keep resources in use as long as possible and promote the circular economy.

IKEA Group has 340 stores in 28 countries and had 783 million visitors last year, with 2.1 billion people visiting the store’s website.