IKEA's New Must-Have Kitchen Is Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles

IKEA’s new Kungsbacka units, designed by Swedish studio Form Us With Love, is the company’s first kitchen to be made entirely from recycled plastic bottles and reclaimed industrial wood. It’s a game changer for mass-produced design, helping make sustainable products accessible for everyone.

For each unit created, 25 plastic bottles are used, showing that waste product can be put to better use, while also making a design statement. ‘A plastic bottle is not waste, it is a resource,’ says Jonas Pettersson, CEO at Form Us With Love. ‘And most importantly, this kitchen proves that these materials can be used for household goods in large-scale production.’

It’s not only helping more consumers to attain a sustainable lifestyle on a budget, something IKEA is very keen on (see our feature on its Live Lagom campaign), it’s also a very stylish design in its own right. With a clean silhouette and modern anthracite grey finish, it taps into the trend for industrial-style design – the finishing touch is the shiny black Hackås handles that contrast with the cupboards’ matt surface.

‘Today, applying waste materials in production is unfortunately still costly and the Kungsbacka kitchen fronts could have easily ended up too expensive,’ says Anna Granath, product developer at IKEA of Sweden. ‘Overcoming the price was a milestone in the development. Sustainability should be for everyone, not only for those who can afford it.’

Each year approximately 100 billion PET-bottles are used by consumers. Only a fraction of that resource is being used. ‘Together, we have to challenge the excuses for not using waste as a resource by showing how to best put these materials back into production, making affordable democratic products that will last,’ Jonas Pettersson concludes. It’s about designing real change.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

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