IKEA encourages employees to recycle

IKEA has long had a reputation for taking CSR seriously and now it is asking its own workers to look more closely at the waste they produce.


The furniture giant has teamed up with waste management firm Viridor to set up an employee campaign to raise awareness and understanding of recycling amongst its staff.

The Recycle for IKEA programme was launched at IKEA’s distribution centre in Peterborough last week with a roadshow for workers.

The roadshow will travel to the company’s northern distribution centre in Doncaster later this summer.

Rob Buck, social and environment developer for IKEA said: “We have very ambitious recycling and recovery targets which can only be achieved if everyone in the company utilise effectively the facilities we have put in place with support from our appointed contractor Viridor.”

Both companies aim to improve understanding of recycling and encourage more participation in the scheme among IKEA’s 700 employees at the distribution centres.

Teresa Cole, contract manager for Viridor, said: “We’re thrilled to be part of IKEA’s recycling success story.

“At Viridor we’re committed to work in partnership with our customers to help them achieve their targets through integrated solutions.

“The response from IKEA’s employees has been fantastic so far and we look forward to continuing engaging with them to drive landfill diversion even higher”.

The roadshows follow a site visit to the Materials Recycling Facility in Peterborough late in April by 22 managers and team leaders from IKEA to find out how Viridor is helping IKEA achieve its ‘zero waste to landfill’ ambitions.

Forming part of IKEA’s People’s Day initiative, the managers and Team Leaders learnt how the MRF sorts thousands of tonnes of recyclable materials from local businesses and households to produce high quality raw materials for the manufacturing of new products and packaging.

Sam Bond

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