IKEA wanted to talk about their measures towards becoming a more sustainable company. In fact, IKEA have pledged globally to be a 100% circular and climate-positive company by 2030.

Perhaps the biggest investment they have made is the IKEA Buyback scheme, where they have opened second-hand stores inside every Norwegian IKEA store. They also offer free spare parts to help you take care of your furniture.

The challenge is making people not only see this, but to start using our sustainable services. But it’s hard to break through when you want to talk about sustainability, and even harder when you’re IKEA and people often see your furniture as disposable just because it’s affordable.

So how could we communicate a sustainable message from IKEA, when people sees us as just the opposite?

IKEA is Norway’s largest furniture retailer, and also the cheapest. Norway is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. With an average annual income of €74.000, it’s easy for us to buy new things rather than re-use or take care of what we have. Every year in Norway, we throw away more than 3 million pieces of furniture. Which is a lot, when you think about the fact that we have a total population of 5,4 million people.

If we wanted to make people aware of the climate-positive measures IKEA are taking, we first needed to address the elephant in the room. People throw away IKEA furniture, just because they see it as disposable.

The campaign needed to address two target audiences; the people who shop at IKEA but see our furniture as disposable and throw them away, and the more environmentally minded people who don't shop at IKEA.

To show just how little it would take to give our furniture new life, we made The Trash Collection 2021.

A brutally honest campaign, where we found and collected real IKEA trash, gave it a wash and few spare parts, and sold it as a new collection back at IKEA. The campaign used every element to educate people in how a spare part could be enough to give furniture a longer life, or how you now could sell it back to us for a second chance in our stores.

This was the first campaign where IKEA exposed and embraced the problem of their furniture being seen as disposable. By taking responsibility for the waste we know is happening, we managed to make people see the actual value of our furniture.

Our thesis was that at lot of discarded IKEA furniture doesn't have to end up at the dump. Too often they are just fine or maybe they just need a small spare part or a little extra care.

To find out, we conducted a test at Yggesett Recycling Station in Asker. The test showed that of all the IKEA furniture that came in, 70% of the pieces could have had a longer life. With simple steps, the furniture could have been repaired with spare parts, or just washed over and given a second chance in the second-hand shop at IKEA.

With our implementation of second-hand stores and free offer of spare parts, we knew we had the proofs needed to talk about how more IKEA furniture could be saved.

We knew we had to treat The Trash Collection 2021 as massive and proudly as any other collection launch from IKEA.

The collection was heroed in a massive national 360 campaign. Every element was treated just like any other IKEA collection, with a massive push on TV, in glossy lifestyle magazines, outdoor, in-store and with its own IKEA-website. Every element talked about just how little it takes to give furniture new life - either by ordering free spare parts or by selling your old furniture back to us.

The Trash Collection 2021 was only launched in Norway, but reached around the globe and was discussed in massive news outlets all over the world. From The Daily Mail in London, to the largest economic paper in Italy Il Sole 24 Ore, the collection reached far beyond just the advertising world.

The Trash Collection 2021 was only launched in Norway, but reached around the globe and was discussed in massive news outlets all over the world.

For IKEA Norway though, the local results mattered the most: Sales of used furniture back to IKEA more than doubled, expanding the Trash Collection by over 3000 pieces and counting.

Orders of free spare parts rose with 20% every week in the months following the launch.

By exposing what stood in our way of becoming a more sustainable brand, we were able to change people's behaviour and keep our furniture where it belongs - out of the trash.