IKEA launches recycled plastics kitchen

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IKEA is selling kitchen fronts, its ‘Kungsbacka’ range, made from recycled wood and plastics.

The kitchen material is IKEA’s first to use two recycled materials.

Together with an Italian supplier, IKEA has developed a new material on the market – a plastic foil made from recycled PET bottles.

Each year, billions of PET bottles are consumed worldwide. Some of them are recycled as material for new products, while the majority become waste.

Anna Granath, Product Developer at IKEA, said: “What we do at IKEA has a big impact on the environment because we work with large quantities. By using recycled materials, we can produce more sustainably.”

Granath led the team that developed ‘Kungsbacka’. The project started two years ago around IKEA’s plan to create a sustainable kitchen front.

Together with 3B, an Italian IKEA supplier, Granath’s team explored the opportunities that recycled material offers. The investigations resulted in the development of a new material on the market – a plastic foil made from discarded PET-bottles collected by Japanese city councils.

Marco Bergamo, Head of Development at the Italian IKEA supplier, 3B, said: “We found a way to transform used PET bottles into a foil laminated on the Kungsbacka kitchen fronts. The biggest challenge was to create a foil from recycled material that fulfils the same quality requirements as a foil made of virgin material. We worked hard not to compromise on either quality nor price.”

25 half-litre PET bottles will cover the black surface of a 40x80cm Kungsbacka kitchen front. IKEA says the Kungsbacka range not only give recycled plastic bottles and recycled wood a new life, but a considerably longer life, with a 25-year guarantee.

Granath added: “We need to become better at using the planet’s resources in a smart way. Our ambition is to increase the share of recycled materials in our products. We are considering 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.”

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