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Discard Rescue

I have rescued my fair share of discarded Ikea furniture glad that I would have the finished product without spending time on assembly which does not come to me naturally. Reading this story made me think about stuff from Ikea that I have discarded - could think of planters, dish-towels, sheets and such. 

In February, Ikea launched disassembly instructions for six popular products. That effort, combined with its furniture-rental programs and the ever-expanding buyback initiative being hyped in the new Norwegian ad are all consistent with Ikea’s People & Planet-positive strategy unveiled in 2018, in which the company committed to becoming fully circular by 2030. That involves designing products with reuse, repair, repurposing, and recycling in mind from the beginning; using only renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials; and eliminating waste.

Though the reputation is that Ikea furniture is not meant to last too long, my rescues have done well for themselves. They met some specific need and were not subject to intense use. A community discard center of disassembled Ikea furniture has potential to becoming a makerspace of sorts. People can come in, mix and match what they find to create items that were never imagined by Ikea. Not a new or novel idea as it turns out.

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