Exploring how social enterprises give furniture a second life in partnership with RREUSE

At IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, we believe a truly circular economy must also be fair and inclusive. Circularity is about creating opportunities for people and communities, in addition to finding better materials and making things last longer.  

This fits right in with our bigger circular ambition at IKEA—designing products with renewable or recycled materials and keeping resources in use for as long as we can. It’s about looking at the whole journey and rethinking everything from how mattresses are made to how they’re collected, repaired, and recycled. 

To understand this better, we teamed up with RREUSE, Europe’s biggest network of social enterprises working in reuse, repair, and recycling and set out to answer three big questions: 

• What role do social enterprises play in making bulky goods like furniture and mattresses circular? 
• What holds them back? 
• What could be possible with the right support? 

You’ll find what we learned in our new report: Social Enterprises’ Role in Furniture and Mattress Circularity. 

What the research reveals 

Across Europe, furniture and mattresses are some of the most commonly thrown-away household items. Every year, people in the EU use about 10.5 million tonnes of furniture, but only around 10% gets recycled. Up to 30 million mattresses end up as waste each year, even though around 85% of their materials could be used again. 

At the same time, many people can’t afford even the basics to furnish their homes. 

“Second-hand IKEA products are typically around 30% cheaper than new, which matters because 65% of customers are looking for the lowest price every time they shop. For many customers, second-hand is now the most accessible way into IKEA,” says Sharon McCracken, Sustainability Leader at IKEA. 

This is where social enterprises that are already implementing innovative and impactful approaches step in. 

RREUSE has 34 members whose network spans across 22 countries including 18 EU member states. Together, they operate around 1,500 locations where members are keeping furniture in use, nearly 100 working with mattresses.  

In 2024 alone, members collected 166,000 tonnes of furniture and successfully reused 84,000 tonnes locally. For every 1,000 tonnes collected, they create around 70 jobs, often for people facing barriers to employment. 

The report shares 14 case studies, from kitchen rescue programmes and upholstery workshops to mattress dismantling and furniture banks. Together, they show what can happen when circularity and social inclusion work side by side. This corroborates findings from another research study we supported that mapped 40 social enterprises around the world working in circularity. 

Challenges holding the sector back 

Even with all this impact, social enterprises still face some tough barriers: 

• Limited space for storing and repairing bulky items 
• Short-term, insecure funding that restricts long-term investment 
• Gaps in specialised skills and logistics capacity 
• Declining quality of donations due to fast furniture 
• Limited access to public procurement, often driven by lowest-price criteria 
• Difficult partnerships with mainstream businesses, despite shared goals 
• These are structural challenges that need a systems approach, and the good news is, there’s a clear opportunity here. 

Supporting social enterprises in their ambition 

With the right support, social enterprises could do even more—helping Europe reuse, repair, and recycle a lot more furniture and mattresses. 

Key enablers include: 

• Stronger public–private partnerships, including with companies like IKEA 
• Policy frameworks such as Extended Producer Responsibility to ensure stable material flows and fair compensation 
• Investment in skills, infrastructure and digital tools 
• Pilot funding to test and scale new circular models 
• Greater public awareness to normalise second-hand purchasing and repair 
• Circular procurement that values both environmental and social impact 

These steps are more than just about sustainability: they create jobs, build stronger communities, and help save money, too.

Committed to inclusive circularity 

We supported this research because we believe social enterprises are key partners in building a circular future. They’re innovators, deeply connected to their communities, finding ways to make materials last longer and create jobs for people who need them most. 

As IKEA keeps working on more circular products and systems, from the materials we choose to take-back schemes, we know we can’t do it alone. Social enterprises are already making circularity happen in real life, every single day. 

Together with RREUSE and its members, we’re committed to building partnerships, trying out new ideas, and helping scale up solutions that put people at the centre of circularity. 

Because if the future is circular, it should be for everyone.