Swedish Ikea Group has acquired a 15% minority stake in Morssinkhof Rymoplast Group, a Dutch plastic recycling plant.
In a statement on 3 Feb, the home furniture company said the move signified the importance of “circular economy” for Ikea.
The purchase is part of the company's €1b budget for long-term sustainable resource supply.
With the budget, Ikea intends to invest in forestry, recycling or renewable energy and biomaterials.
“Particularly the recycling industry is an indispensable part of the circular economy, which will be without waste,” said the Ikea statement.
Morssinkhof Rymoplast is a Dutch family business with several locations in the Netherlands and more than 50 years of recycling experience.
The company recycles used plastics from both consumers and industrial partners.
It has processing capacity of 200,000 tonnes and expects further growth with the Ikea investment.
“The transition to a circular economy is very important if we want to keep meeting people's needs and demands without exhausting our natural world's resources", Ikea head of sustainability, Steve Howard, said.
Ikea, he noted, will speed up this transition through several steps including investments and reusing waste within company.