On June 10, 2025, Ecomaison organized a day of exchanges and immersion in the field in partnership with IKEA. The day was an opportunity for members to discover first-hand the realities of collecting and recycling end-of-life furniture, mattresses and other household items.
The aim of the day was to strengthen synergies between partners and, in anticipation of the forthcoming implementation of the European Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), to highlight the French model for collecting and recycling furniture and bedding. Alongside Ecomaison players, it brought together experts in the social economy and sustainable development from IKEA France and around the world.
The event, which was both convivial and instructive, opened with a presentation to the IKEA team of the model that Ecomaison has been building since 2011 in the furniture sector, its progress and the results obtained by Ecomaison. It was also an opportunity for the IKEA team to present the brand's second-life spaces: areas for the resale of second-hand furniture items bought back by stores.
"Circularity is a lever for fighting climate change, by reducing pollution and waste, regenerating resources and reducing our impact on the environment. At IKEA France, we are convinced that producers, manufacturers and retailers have a key role to play in driving change and limiting the environmental footprint of their activities. At IKEA, we're committed to transforming our activities to become circular and ensure that our customers can live more responsibly with the products we make."
Emilie Carpels, Sustainable Development Manager, IKEA France
It continued with field visits to Ecomaison's industrial partners: the SEPUR collection and sorting center in Thivernal-Grignon (78), and the Recyc-Matelas Europe mattress dismantling center in Gargenville (78). The aim was to illustrate, in concrete terms, the journey of the furniture items collected by IKEA, from the in-store skip to their recycling. The day concluded with a discussion between the IKEA teams, Ecomaison and its industrial partners, with a view to imagining more sustainable solutions together.
"During the day, we were able to retrace the mattress's entire path: point of sale, recycling skip, sorting center, and dismantling center, to then arrive at a secondary raw material that will be used by other manufacturers."
William Avignon, Managing Director in charge of Development, GROUPE RECYC MATELAS
The experience, rich in lessons learned, confirmed the growing interest, in Europe and internationally, in the French model for managing furniture waste, a unique and effective model. It also enabled new synergies to be explored and proved, once again, that dialogue between stakeholders is a powerful lever for the emergence of innovative solutions. As all the partners realized, they all share the same traceability and performance challenges at every link in the chain.
"Organizing field immersions with our members is fundamental to giving them a concrete insight into the industrial realities of furniture waste processing. These shared moments nurture a common understanding and pave the way for more effective solutions, co-constructed on the basis of reality."
Vincent du Granrut, Furniture Sector Manager, Ecomaison
A unique, high-performance model
The DEA (Déchets d'éléments d'ameublement) EPR channel model built by Ecomaison since 2011 is unique in Europe. Above all, it is efficient. Before the system was created, 55% of end-of-life furniture was landfilled. Today, 97% of this furniture is recovered through reuse, recycling or energy recovery.