Sweden’s IKEA is taking steps to reduce waste, allowing customers to rent rather than buy furniture, as part of a trial.
Big companies have come under fire in recent years over the enormous amount of waste they are responsible for and been accused of encouraging a throwaway culture to drive sales.
PICTURE: Gary Chan/Unsplash
The trial is the retail giant’s latest show of support for the circular economy, which involves finding ways to reuse materials including minerals, metals and biomass – once they have served their initial purpose, rather than discarding them.
But a number of smaller enterprises have been doing it for a while. Here are seven:
• Green Baby: Based in Hong Kong, Green Baby collects, repairs and resells second-hand baby clothes, toys and accessories. It helps teenage and single mothers into work by employing them across the business.
• Retalhar: Working with companies across Brazil, this São Paulo-based social enterprise turns used uniforms into gifts, such as bags and blankets, hiring women from low-income households to make them.
• Ecopost: This Kenyan social enterprise collects waste plastic and turns it into sturdy plastic planks that can be used for fencing, road signs and outdoor furniture.
• Substation33: Based in Logan City, Australia, this social enterprise collects electronic waste and turns it into products with a social, environmental or educational purpose, such as electronic bikes, 3D printers and vertical garden monitoring systems.
• Elvis and Kresse: This British social enterprise makes luxury accessories, including bags, wallets and belts, out of reclaimed materials such as old firehoses, coffee sacks and parachute silk.
• Circle Economy: Operating as a cooperative this research and communications social enterprise, based in Amsterdam, campaigns to advance the circular economy.
• Boomerang Recycling: This Irish social enterprise collects used mattresses destined for landfill and strips them down, reusing and recycling the salvageable components, such as steel springs and polyester.