IKEA Israel to continue providing free plastic bags

IKEA Israel: Our plastic bags can be recycled.

IKEA Israel will not demand payment for plastic bags the company said today, after Inter IKEA Systems BV announced that it would start charging for them.

A few days ago IKEA Systems announced that it would charge $0.05 per plastic bag, and that the proceeds would go to an environmental organization. IKEA North America head Pernille Spiers-Lopez said, “We think the time has come to take this measure. This is a small step, but we believe that it’s good for us as a company because it will reduce our impact on the environment.”

IKEA Israel is not required to follow this policy by IKEA Systems. IKEA Israel said the plastic bags used in Israel could be recycled. IKEA Israel used 2.4 million plastic bags last year.

IKEA Israel general manager Shlomo Gabay said, “The company’s policy in Israel is to provide the plastic bags as a customer service at no charge. IKEA does many things for the environment. Our contributions are not made at the customer’s expense, but through our insistence on using recyclable materials. We’re also careful to work with organizations that reflect a policy of protecting the environment, and when we want to give money, we known how to do it quietly.”

IKEA US customers used 70 million plastic bags last year. The company wants to halve the use of plastic bags in the first year of the “pay for your plastic bag” policy coming into effect.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 26, 2007

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018