Ikea to phase out single-use plastics by 2020

Ikea, Leiden, Netherlands, has announced it will remove all single-use plastic products from its 363 stores by 2020. The company says it also plans to design its products with circular principles, with the goal of only using renewable and recycled materials by 2030. All of the company’s new commitments can be found here.

“Ikea’s decision to remove single-use plastic products from its stores by 2020 is a great step in the right direction,” says Graham Forbes, plastics campaigner for Amsterdam-based Greenpeace. “Now is the time for other big retailers and corporations to follow suit and reduce the amount of throwaway plastic on their shelves.”

He adds, “A truckload of plastic enters our oceans every minute, and plastic pollution has been found in remote locations like the Antarctic, the Arctic; and even the deepest point of the ocean, the Mariana Trench.

“Ikea has taken an important first step toward delivering the sort of bold action required by reducing plastic pollution at the source, although it’s important for the company to remove these single-use products and not simply substitute bioplastics or other environmentally harmful materials.”

Forbes adds, “The momentum is on our side, and the days of single-use plastics are numbered.”