IKEA is launching a new mattress removal and recycling system
IKEA has announced the launch of a new mattress removal and recycling scheme, offering UK customers a convenient and sustainable way to recycle their old mattresses. The service aims to ensure mattresses across the UK are transformed into valuable raw materials that are fed back into the economy and reused.
IKEA customers can reserve a range of its mattresses, online or in store, for £40 each. After collection, the mattresses are transported to a dedicated recycling facility run by an IKEA partner, Furniture recycling (TFR).
TFR Group diverts 100% of the mattresses it collects or receives from landfills, and breaks them down by hand, allowing the materials to be separated into their component parts, which are sterilized for subsequent processing. Since 2012, TFR Group has recycled more than 3.5 million mattresses, returning 30,000 tons of material back to the economy.
In 2022, RetourMatras, a mattress recycling company based in the Netherlands and co-owned by Ingka Investments – the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest retailer Ikea – acquired TFR Group. This investment has allowed the company to triple its disassembly capacity, which today stands at 1.5 million mattresses annually.
In addition to recycling, IKEA also plans to use TFR Group’s mattress refurbishment service in the near future, which involves a personal sanitization of returned mattresses. This ensures that returned mattresses do not go to waste, and are instead cleaned to NHS standards and verified as new through robust quality assurance checks – ready for resale at discounted prices or redistribution to support community sites.
The launch of the mattress removal and recycling scheme enhances the retailer’s existing sustainable service offerings. This includes in-store areas, now known as Re-shop and re-use, Ikea can recycle and give products a second life, offering free replacement parts and a range of affordable products, including discontinued items, which are traded back to Ikea through the BuyBack & Resell service, which encourages customers to sell used products Pre-qualified for store credit, so a new customer can purchase and reuse these pieces.
Alongside expanding UK recycling capacity, RetourMatras and TFR Group are working together to make mattress recycling more efficient by improving material transport, disassembly and recovery – ultimately working towards a fully circular mattress value chain.
Nick Oettinger, CEO and founder of TFR Group, comments: “We are proud to support IKEA UK, which helps strengthen its business sustainability offering through its mattress removal and recycling service. By dismantling each mattress and recycling its components, together we can contribute to the circular economy and ensure From recycling a huge amount of waste and diverting it from landfill, providing long-term environmental benefits.
source: www.furniturenews.net
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