Ikea furniture to buy back used furniture

Moving up in the world or at least moving homes, customers have for generations faced an awkward question: What do you do with old Ikea furniture, so carefully assembled but so ready to be replaced?

Ikea, the Swedish retailer with a reputation for bargain furniture — if not durable furniture — has offered a solution. It announced that next month it will begin a global buyback program of unwanted Ikea furniture to encourage customers to take a stand against excessive consumption.

The program, called “Buy Back,” will begin in Britain on Nov. 24, just ahead of Black Friday, an Ikea spokeswoman said this week. Theprogramwillalso run in 26 other countries, includingAustralia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. The initiative has no end date in Britain or Ireland.

Although Ikea has various buyback programs running at stores in many countries, the companysaid November’s eventwould be the first time 27 countries have scaled this service together.

“By making sustainable living more simple and accessible, Ikea hopes that the initiative will help its customers take a stand against excessive consumption this Black Friday and in the years to come,” the company said in a news release.

Absent from the list of participating countries was the United States. Ikea did not immediately say why the program would not be implemented there.

“It is a country decision, and Ikea Retail U.S. will not participate in the buyback program,” the spokeswoman said. “The U.S. is currently exploring ways to bring Buy Back to the coun

try in the future.”

She added, “This year, they will use the traditional Black Friday to focus on other sustainability initiatives and to promote sustainable living among their customers.”

Customers selling back furniture will receive an Ikea refund card, with no expiration date, the news release said.

The condition of the item sold back to Ikea will determine the value.

Ikea furniture in “new” condition with no scratches could receive 50% of the original price, the release said. Furniture in “very good” condition with minor scratches may receive 40% of the original price, and “well-used” items, with several scratches, could receive 30% of the original price. The items will be resold as secondhand in the “As-Is” section of stores.

Any item that can’t be resold will be recycled or donated to local community projects, the company said.

While the program has ignited interest among Ikea lovers, not all of the company’s furniture products will be eligible for it. Among the

items the program will accept are dressers, bookcases and shelf units, small tables, cabinets, dining tables and desks, chairs and stools without upholstery, and chests of drawers.

The initiative stands in contrast to an aggressive marketing campaign that Ikeausedin the early2000s, encouraging consumers to replace items more frequently and earning the company some scorn for selling “disposable furniture.” In one ad from 2002, somber piano music plays as a woman takes an old lamp out to the trash in the pouring rain.

“Many of you feel bad for this lamp,” a man suddenly says in a Swedish accent. “That is because you’re crazy. It has no feelings, and thenewoneismuchbetter.”

Almost 20 years later, the companyhasembracedsustainability, which Peter Jelkeby, country retail manager for Ikea UK and Ireland, called “the defining issue of our time.” The company, he said, “is committed to being part of the solution to promotesustainable consumption and combat climate change.”

NEETA SATAM/THE NEWYORK TIMES A total of 27 countries will take part in Ikea’s furniture buyback program, but stores in the U.S. will not participate at this time.