Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, which is the largest Ikea retailer globally, will invest around 1 billion euros ($1.02 billion) in companies that are increasing recycling infrastructure.
The Netherlands-based investment company, which controls the vast majority of Ikea home furnishing stores, said it plans to invest in companies recycling plastics, mattresses, textiles, wood and food waste.
Ingka Investments has earmarked around 667 million euros ($685 million) for new recycling investments, with a particular focus on textiles, according to Reuters. The remaining funds will be allocated to existing investments.
The Ingka Group established a Circular Investments portfolio in 2017, in which it has allocated around 330 million euros ($339 million) to date. Plastic recycling companies in its portfolio include Morssinkhof Rymoplast Group and Next Generation Recycling Group (NGR). The Ingka Group has a 15 percent stake in Morssinkhof and a 24 percent stake in NGR.
Circular Investment’s portfolio also includes RetourMatras, a Dutch mattress recycler, and Winnoq, a provider of food waste tracking solutions.
Ingka estimates that its portfolio companies have recycled around 2.7 million metric tons of materials overall, avoiding over 9.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent since 2017.
“Our 1 billion euro ambition to invest in growing recycling infrastructure is crucial to Ingka Group’s broader sustainability strategy to go beyond our own operations,” said Peter van der Poel, managing director at Ingka Investments. “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,” van der Poel continued. “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.”
The announcement comes as separate collection of textile waste become mandatory in the European Union starting Jan. 1, 2025. The European Union's strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to ensure that, by 2030, textile products are largely made from recycled fibers, and that incineration and landfill are reduced to a minimum.