Circularity gains momentum as IKEA, Target, and Walmart showcase groundbreaking initiatives
New Delhi: Sustainability leaders from IKEA U.S., Target, and Walmart underscored the importance of embedding circularity and sustainability into retail strategies.
In a session moderated by Scot Case, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability for the National Retail Federation (NRF), these industry giants delved into their approaches to education, awareness, and outreach, emphasizing solutions that benefit consumers, the planet, and businesses alike.
Circularity and sustainability are often not top-of-mind for consumers, noted Agata Ramallo Garcia, Vice President of Enterprise Sustainability at Target. However, she emphasized the potential of aligning solutions with what customers value most: Affordability, convenience, ease, and quality. A key success for Target has been its car seat trade-in programme, launched in 2016, which has recycled over 3 million car seats—equivalent to 45 million pounds of materials. “Solutions like this resonate with guests while bringing materials back into the supply chain and driving long-term business value,” Garcia said.
Walmart is focusing upstream by collaborating with vendor partners to prioritise reuse and recycling. The retailer recently launched its ‘Resold at Walmart’ marketplace, which offers gently used products, including apparel, sporting goods, and electronics. According to Jerome Del Porto, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Walmart, the marketplace now features over 5 million products from 1,500 sellers. “It allows us to give great value to the customers and a second life for products that can still be very useful to many,” Del Porto explained.
Walmart has also tackled food waste by partnering with Denali, which depackages unsellable food for conversion into animal feed, compost, or energy. Additionally, its ecoATM initiative provides customers with instant cash for recycling old cell phones, further emphasizing its commitment to sustainability.
For IKEA, circularity is so integral to its operations that each country’s CEO also serves as its Chief Sustainability Officer. The company has set a bold goal to achieve 100% circularity by 2030. Through its Circular Product Design Guide, IKEA is pioneering innovative product designs with circular capabilities. One example is the SILVERSIDA series, which repurposes ceramic production waste into new tableware. IKEA also runs a buy-back and resale program and explores ways to incorporate end-of-life waste back into its supply chain.
“This is the long game,” said Mardi Ditze, Sustainability Manager at IKEA U.S. “In this marathon that we call circularity, we need infrastructure, we need partners, and we need innovative solutions. Circularity is not just good for the environment; there’s real business potential in the circularity industry.”
The panel underscored the idea that sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires robust infrastructure, strong partnerships, and innovative thinking to truly integrate circularity into retail operations.
Source: National Retail Federation (NRF) 2025
