This year, IKEA plans to open its first refurbished second-hand furniture store in Sweden, the group said, calling for its model to be transformed into a recycling economy by 2030.
The store will open its doors in the world's first dedicated shopping mall for used goods, called "ReTuna", located in Eskilstuna.
The Swedish group had announced that it would begin leasing and recycling the furniture it produced around the world, in a gesture aimed at responding to accusations of encouraging excessive consumption and waste by manufacturing products at affordable prices that customers could install themselves.
"If we are to achieve our sustainable development goals, we need to rethink our concepts and test ideas on the ground," said Jonas Karlehead, IKEA Sweden's Director of Sustainable Development in Sweden, in a statement.
The Swedish group aims to reduce its overall environmental footprint by 70 percent on average per product by 2030.
The new store, which is a test project that will undergo a periodic evaluation, will also be equipped with furniture and other household items from a nearby IKEA store, after defects have been fixed.
The company has begun to restore or repair products that are damaged during the transfer process in each store, and allows customers to return products, including furniture, for resale or donation to charity.
In 2019, IKEA launched a pilot project on furniture leasing.
