IKEA launches KUNGSBACKA kitchen fronts. They are the first kitchen fronts in the IKEA range made from both recycled wood and recycled plastic. Together with an Italian supplier, IKEA has developed a new material on the market – a plastic foil made from recycled PET-bottles.Each year, billions of PET-bottles are consumed worldwide. Some of them are recycled as material for new products, while the vast majority become waste.
“What we do at IKEA has a big impact on the environment because we work with large quantities. By using recycled materials, we can produce more sustainably,” says Anna Granath, product developer at IKEA.
Anna Granath is the project leader of the team that has developed KUNGSBACKA. The project started two years ago around a vision to create a more sustainable kitchen front. Together with an innovative Italian IKEA supplier, the team started to explore the opportunities that recycled material offers. The investigations resulted in the development of a new material on the market – a plastic foil made from discarded PET-bottles collected by Japanese municipalities.
