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Is IKEA Green? Do their corporate policies support a sustainable environment? What about their deforesting policies? Are there chemicals in their products that can harm my family or I? Read on to get the scoop!
Environmental Standards of IKEA Products - The Numbers - Read the specs directly from IKEA Corporate
See IKEA's Corporate Policies and Reports
Uber-efficient IKEA has more in store From Sustainable Industries, June 2006"...The company has also adopted the motto “Low price -- but not at any price,” a credo reflected in ambitious goals recently adopted for 2006-2009.
IKEA’s U.S. locations aim to reclaim 90 percent of store waste by the end of 2009 (the stores currently average 67 percent). All new stores need to be built to a certified green building standard. Organic goods -- starting with coffee, strawberry jam, blue cheese, tomato sauce, and schnapps, the Swedish aquavit -- will be phased-in to both IKEA’s restaurants and its “Swede” shops. In the same three-year goal period, the company plans to encourage 10 percent of its customers around the world to travel to its stores using public transport.
A partnership between IKEA and Flexcar in the San Francisco Bay Area already places pick-up trucks at IKEA to help public-transport customers get their flat packs home.
And because IKEA has realized that ambitious plans wither unless top management is involved and committed, Zurcher says, the company will give all its store managers environmental and social responsibility trainings before the three years is up."
IKEA Assembles Certified Storefronts From Sustainable Industries, November 1, 2006
"IKEA, the Swedish furniture company that went global, has turned its environmental stewardship policy inside out. In November 2005, the company’s Stoughton store became the first IKEA retail outlet designed to gain LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Plenty more are on the way.
IKEA has already incorporated a number of environmental strategies into its product development [see “Uber-efficient IKEA has more in store,” Sustainable Industries, July 2006]. Now the company is applying the same tactics to store development. Starting with Stoughton, all new U.S. IKEA stores are expected to chase LEED standards." Safer chemicals for children? From Ethical Consumer, Jan/Feb 01, 02
"Safer chemicals for children?
As part of its Safer Chemicals campaign, Friends of the Earth recently surveyed babies’ and children’s products and found that many contained ‘risky’ chemicals such as phthalates, bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants, and artificial musks. FOE questioned large retailers and asked them whether the products they sold contained any of these chemicals.
For toiletries such as baby wipes, the worst responses came from Boots, Superdrug and Tesco which could not say whether their toiletries were free from these chemicals. Sainsbury’s and Waitrose both said their own brand toiletries were phthalate and artificial musk free.
For toys, phthalates (hormone disruptors used in PVC) are banned in PVC baby toys “intended to be put in the mouths of children under three” but the law does not protect other baby toys. Only IKEA said that it had removed phthalates from all its toys. FOE recommends that consumers look out for ‘PVC-free’ toys."
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