FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does IKEA approach social and environmental issues?

At IKEA we believe being socially and environmentally responsible is a pre-requisite for doing business. That’s why we believe in a way of working and living that influences everything we do in every store, factory and forest. We work only with suppliers who agree to abide by the IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products, or IWAY for short. IWAY is our code of conduct covering working conditions, wages, environmental protection, and child labour prevention. IWAY also covers the transport and distribution of IKEA products, so we’re working to reduce energy consumption and emissions in our operations and in the transport of our products.

How does IKEA enforce compliance with IWAY?

In countries where our suppliers are located, we have managers at IKEA trading offices who are responsible for upholding the IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products, our code of conduct for buying home furnishing and food products, and for transporting and distributing IKEA products. These managers work closely with suppliers and monitor their production processes. IKEA also conducts frequent audits, announced and unannounced, on suppliers and selected subcontractors.
And in turn, our auditors are audited by third-party companies to verify their methods and results.

What is IKEA's position on child labour?

Our position is plain and simple: IKEA does not accept child labour. We require all IKEA suppliers and their subcontractors to follow the IKEA Way on Preventing Child Labour, and we monitor compliance through unannounced visits by third-party auditors. At the same time, we understand that this is a complex issue that requires the cooperation of many parties. So we work closely with international organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children to try and improve children's rights and tackle the root causes of child labour.

What is IKEA's position when it comes to forestry?

Wood is an excellent building material that is also a good environmental choice if it comes from responsibly managed forests. IKEA does not accept solid wood, veneer, plywood or layer-glued wood from intact natural forests or from forests with a clearly defined high conservation value. We require our suppliers to provide documentation showing where the wood comes from, and our foresters trace the wood from the supplier to the forest to ensure it meets our requirements. In the long term, our goal is to source all wood from forests certified as responsibly managed. Towards this end, we are working actively with the WWF and other partners to increase the availability of certified wood.

How do you ensure that suppliers are producing IKEA products in a socially and environmentally responsible way?

IKEA continually strives to build long-term relationships with suppliers who share our commitment to promoting good practices. We’ve defined these good practices in our IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products, our code of conduct for purchasing based on provisions included in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

Where does IKEA purchase its products from?

We have 1,380 suppliers in 45 countries. When you read our labels, you'll see "Design & Quality. IKEA of Sweden" followed by the country of origin. The majority of our products come from Europe (67%), followed by Asia (30%) and North America (3%).

How does IKEA ensure its products are safe?

The safety of our customers and coworkers is of the utmost importance to IKEA. We test all our products in our own third party accredited laboratory in Sweden and at independent labs around the world to ensure they meet the strictest national and international safety standards. We also require our suppliers to use materials and production practices that are safe for their workers. But sometimes, even with so many safety measures in place, we’ll still find a product that doesn’t meet all of our safety requirements. When this happens, we quickly issue a product recall.

What about the safety of your children’s products – does IKEA take a different approach to this?

Actually, we do place a special focus on children’s products and require that they meet particularly high quality and safety standards, such as European safety standard EN71-9. This especially stringent standard, which we implemented in 2006 for all children’s products, covers the use of hazardous organic chemical compounds such as flame retardants, colorants, primary aromatic amines, monomers, plasticizers, solvents, wood preservative and biocides. In addition, we test IKEA children’s products at our own third party accredited laboratory in Sweden as well as in independent labs around the world.

Is Bisphenol A (BPA) present in any IKEA products?

IKEA has been monitoring potential issues concerning the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) for some time. So when Health Canada announced in April 2008 that it would initiate a comment period on whether or not to ban baby bottles with BPAs, we immediately took precautionary steps by ensuring that all of our children’s products and food storage products are BPA-free.

Is there formaldehyde present in any IKEA products?

In 1993, IKEA banned the use of formaldehyde and aromatic solvents in lacquers. Our particle boards and textiles include trace amounts of formaldehyde, but in both cases we apply the strictest existing global limits. We also test our products continuously and to date our tests show formaldehyde values below legislated standards.

Does IKEA have any products with brominated flame-retardants?

No. In 1989 IKEA decided to voluntarily discontinue the use of all of these chemicals in all of our mattresses and sofas.

Is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) present in any IKEA products?

The use of PVC has been banned from IKEA products since the early 90s. The only exception is electrical cords, where no viable alternative is available – yet.

Does IKEA consider the life cycle of is products?

IKEA is increasingly conscious of the life cycle of its products and is using renewable, reclaimed and recyclable material where possible. As of 2008, over 72% of our products were made containing renewable materials such as wood, cotton, bamboo, banana leaves and the natural fibre lyocell.

We also use something called the eWheel when developing products. It is our way of taking social and environmental responsibility and helps us understand and evaluate the environmental impact of our products by focusing on: materials, manufacturing, distribution, use and end of life.

Where do your customer-returned bulbs and batteries go?

IKEA ensures that the bulbs and batteries both generated by our stores and brought in by customers are recycled responsibly. We use government approved recyclers to process our bulbs and batteries.

Why did you stop providing customers with disposable plastic bags?

As of July 1, 2009 IKEA Canada stopped offering plastic bags. It's the final step in our Bag the Bag program that launched in October, 2007, when we began charging 5 cents a bag and donating all proceeds to Tree Canada.

At that time, our customers really got on board - within six months IKEA Canada saw plastic bag use drop by 90 percent in all our stores.

We know (because we asked) our customers will keep doing their part to make do without plastic bags by bringing their own bags or buying a reusable IKEA Blue Bag for only $1. The IKEA Blue Bag is made of recyclable polypropylene plastic, hefts up to 60kg, is big enough to hold two loads of laundry and can be used over and over.

A total of $280,000 was raised through the Bag the Bag program. Most of the funds will be re-invested back into urban forestry in areas IKEA stores operate in Canada.