Ikea considering bringing furniture recycling to Canada

Ikea is looking at bringing a "take back"program to Canada that would allow customers to trade furniturepurchased from the Swedish-startedfurniture giant in exchange for storecredit.

Under the initiative, mirrored after similar environmentallyfriendly initiatives in France and Belgium, the retailer would thenresell the second-hand items or recycle them.

"If we can have an impact on people's lives at home, we couldhave a huge impact on the environment," said Ikea Canada presidentStefan Sjostrand at the opening of a pickup and order location inWhitby, Ont.

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Sjostrand was part of the team that helped bring the program toFrance, and says the same could be done in Canada, where Ikeaoperates 12 stores and three pickup and order locations.

He conceded, however, that the program could still be years awaybecause Canadian stores don't have the capabilities to take backitems now, even if only 10 per cent, or 2.7 million customers,returned their old furniture.

Last year, Ikea Canada had 25 million visitors in its stores and75 million visits online.

Ikea plans to continue opening full-size stores

The proposed initiative comes after Steve Howard, the head ofsustainability at Ikea, told a conference in January that appetitefor home furnishings in western countries has hit its "peak,"prompting the world's largest furniture retailer to look at ways toencourage customers to repair and recycle Ikea products.

Sjostrand said Ikea already has recycling programs for plastics,paper, light bulbs and mattresses in place in Canada, and was alsothe first retailer in the country to phase out the sale ofincandescent light bulbs in favour of the more energy-saving LEDbulbs.

Although it's taking a more planet-friendly approach to commerce,Sjostrand said this won't slow down its plan to open 12 morefull-size stores over the next decade in Canada. The next locationwas recently announced for Halifax.

In addition to its pickup and order points inQuebec City, Londonand Whitby, Ont.Ikea plans to open three more such shops in theOntario cities of St.Catharines,Kitchenerand Windsor.

For Ikea, bricks-and-mortar stores are still its largest salesdriver, accounting for about 93 per cent of sales last year, withthe rest coming from e-commerce. The company recorded $1.8 billionin sales in Canada in 2015.

The smaller locations allow customers to order items online andpick them up in the store for a flat fee of $20. Various popularitems like towels, candles and pillows are also available in thestores for purchase.

The stores are around 30,000 square feet versusthe 270,000 square feet of a typical Ikea store.

Canada has the most Ikea pickup and order locations out of anycountry, with the others opened last year in Spain, Norway, Finlandand the United Kingdom.