Recycling old furniture in exchange for vouchers to buy new furniture was an attractive offer for over 900 Romanians, who took advantage of IKEA's recycling program between December 20 and January 26.

They brought over 3,300 old pieces of furniture to IKEA's store in Baneasa area of Bucharest, and got a voucher of RON 20 for each piece of furniture recycled, to be used only to buy products from IKEA, according to the retailer.

This means IKEA has offered vouchers worth some EUR 14,600 in exchange for old furniture. It is however likely that those who got the RON 20 vouchers purchased extra products from IKEA, generating more sales for the retailer.

Chairs made over 60 percent of the recycled old furniture. Around 130 of the 3,300 pieces of furniture were taken by the charities involved in the project, and were given to low income families.

Plastic and metal components were recycled, and the non-recyclable components were burnt to generate energy in a controlled environment.

This is a global IKEA sustainability project and in 2013 the retailer installed 137 wind turbines and more than 550,000 solar panels.

In Romania, IKEA ended the 2012-2013 fiscal year with total sales of some EUR 100 million (RON 440 million), a year-on-year increase of 10 percent. The store located in Baneasa area in Romania’s capital welcomed more than 3.2 million visitors between September 1, 2012 and August 31, 2013, which purchased a total of over 12 million products.

editor@romania-insider.com