IKEA -- The Least Sustainable Retailer On The Planet?

A friend recently told me about the great lengths that he and his newlywed wife went to -- on their honeymoon -- to cram their highly coveted cardboard wrapped IKEA furniture pieces into their just been married rental vehicle. Likening the process to jumping repeatedly on a suitcase and praying for the best, they managed to make it work by lightening their load on the side of the road. Now, that's really not the type of information that any greenie greets with open arms -- in fact, I had to resist the urge to deal my wasteful compadre the scolding 'why you done momma earth so wrong' semi-evil eye. By the time he and his wife began gushing in unison about how they'd give their left arms right here right now to fill their kitchen with the Scandanavian design emporium's cabinetry, both so impossibly in psynch with their oooos and aaaaahs, my initial eco-criminal assessment of them melted into a stupifying admiration of their apparent consumer compatability.

Married or not, that is what the very sight of the assertive blue and yellow logo does to discerning yet price-conscious consumers. It beckons from miles away, seducing us with its bargain-basement pricing, clean yet edgy design lines and curiously delicious Swedish meatballs. Its Wal-Mart-like dominance in the cheap-but-chic furniture and housewares marketplace is somehow excusable because...well, they hail from Sweden, home to fascinating viking history and dumbfoundingly multi-syllabic umlaut-laden town names. You yourself have probably visited an IKEA location at least once, and the drive was...let me guess...a minimum of 50 miles? It tends to be a "destination" event...a reason to pile into the car, load up the wallet with fresh greenbacks and be still your beating heart. Plus, parents with kidlets that range anywhere from up to 36 inches/50 inches (depending on the location) score free Ikea employee childcare in the Smaland play center for up to an hour and a half, so what's not to love? Interestingly, there are just 231 IKEA stores in 24 countries as opposed to Wal-Mart's 4,382 global locations. That would explain why people practically trip over themselves going there on their honeymoon -- Carpe Diem, sugar lips! It's road trip time!!

With reported pre-tax profits of 2.1 billion kronor ($263 million) for the 2008 fiscal year, they've clearly found a formula that works. Their furniture may not be the stuff of heirloom dreams, but it is certainly affordable, and many might attribute that fact to their build-it-yourself system. While IKEA does save money by shipping their furniture flat, one might presume that the real savings come in the form of materials supplied by low-wage Asian and eastern Europe countries and wood harvested from 8 zones in Russia and China that are known for illegal logging. IKEA has earned a reputation as the third largest consumer of wood and yet despite their claim that they "source all wood from well-managed forests that have received recognised forest management certification," they are not paying extra to ensure that their wood is harvested legally. Hmmm, sounds a little fishy -- and it sure seems like they could afford to spring for it in the name of Mother Earth. Nevertheless, they assert that every effort is taken to "minimise (the) damaging effects to the environment, which may result as a consequence of (their) activities." Here are the eco-efforts that they take (gleaned from various online sources):

• they light their stores with low-wattage lightbulbs
• one-time-use plastic bags have been banned 
• goods are transported whenever possible by rail and sea
• fuel-saving techniques are used (although I couldn't unearth exactly what they are)
• corrugated cardboard, wood, metal, polyethylene plastic and office paper are recycled in their stores
• leftover material from one product is used to create additional products
• they've laid off of toxic chemicals like carcinogenic azo-dyes, ChloroFluoroCarbons (CFC), and PVCs (PolyVinylChloride)

Okay...it's nice to see that they're taking some reasonable green steps, but should they ramp up their efforts even more? What could IKEA do to establish a greener big box policy? Do you see them in the same light as other conglomerate retailers like Wal-Mart or Target? Are they causing more harm to our environment than good?