Ingka Investments, the investments arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, aims to invest about €1 billion in companies that are increasing recycling infrastructure.

Every year, the global economy consumes 75% more natural resources than the Earth can regenerate. This generates tremendous amounts of waste, yet less than 20% of waste is recycled. To support the transition towards a circular economy, Ingka is aiming to invest about €1 billion in companies that will contribute to recycling infrastructure. In doing so, we invest to recycle more end-of-life products into secondary raw materials.

In 2017, Ingka Group established Circular Investments to invest in companies contributing to the transition to a circular economy with the focus to make a difference for plastics, mattresses, textiles, wood and food waste. We aim to grow profitable businesses that avoid millions of tonnes of CO2e and increase the availability of recycled material on the market. Since 2017, we estimate that our portfolio companies have recycled around 2.7 million tonnes of materials overall, avoiding over 9.4 million tonnes of CO2e.

Lukas Visserm, Circular Investments Portfolio Manager, Ingka Investments adds: “To future proof our business we want to invest in financially and environmentally resilient companies."

"When a product’s life at home ends, Circular Investments begins. Ingka Investments is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy and retaining the value of materials. For us, that means investing in companies that are developing technology or growing capacity to prevent waste or supply recycled materials.”

Examples of avoided carbon emissions within Circular Investments’ portfolio include:

• RetourMatras recycles mattresses transforming them into valuable materials for reuse. They produce, on an industrial scale, repoliol, a circular alternative to replace fossil-based materials in new foam products and is used by various customers, including IKEA in 31 upholstery and mattress product lines. The business operates facilities in the Netherlands, England and France with a total annual capacity of 2.5 million mattresses.

• Recycled household plastics: Morssinkhof Rymoplast, the leading post-consumer plastic recycler, produces recycled plastics for products for both global and local brands. Our investment has contributed to Morssinkhof Rymoplast doubling its plastic recycling capacity to 515,000 tonnes per year. Today, Morssinkhof Rymoplast has 11 recycling facilities in Belgium, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands and has started construction of two new facilities in Belgium.

• Innovative technology: Next Generation Group is a group of companies supplying solutions that are both economically and ecologically efficient. Through its subsidiaries NGG offers a wide range of innovative and future oriented plastic recycling solutions, as well as advanced solutions for the treatment of organic waste.

Peter van der Poel, Managing Director, Ingka Investments, said: “Our €1 billion ambition to invest in growing recycling infrastructure is crucial to Ingka Group’s broader sustainability strategy to go beyond our own operations. Through investments, we are committed to doing our part to ensure that valuable materials are recycled and reused in the production of new products."

"What would help us go further is if legislation was stronger at prioritizing recycling over incineration and landfilling, for example by ensuring that Extended Producer Responsibility schemes were resulting in higher recycling rates. We also welcome eco-design regulations to encourage the demand for these recycled materials and we are actively collaborating with relevant authorities and other stakeholders to address these issues.”

"Ingka’s ambition for Circular Investments is just one pillar of how we keep good things going – keeping products and materials in circulation at the highest value for as long as possible."

"The more we reuse, repair, or recycle our products and materials and reduce the use of virgin materials, the more we help fight climate change and protect nature for the generations to come."