How to save water by using waste

To use waste as a resource is a classical way to be thrifty. When you can do it in big scale, it also means big savings of for example valuable water. That’s what we’re doing when we produce SIVIRENE curtain. It’s made of leftover pieces of fabric from our production of bed linen.

“It all started when we had a meeting with some of our textile suppliers. We wanted to see how we could make our products more sustainable by using resources smarter,” tells Nishant Verma, who works as IKEA engineer. One of our bed linen suppliers came up with a good idea; to use waste that’s generated in our own production. And not just the pieces that can be patched together, but all the fragments – threads and everything.

Leftover material saves water

Together with the supplier, Nishant and his team worked out the details. They decided that a small curtain like SIVIRENE would be the perfect test candidate for this production technique. To be able to use waste fabric, it first needs to be torn to fibres by big rollers with metal spikes. The fibres are then spun into a yarn. “80% of SIVIRENE comes from leftovers. The remaining 20% is new cotton that’s needed to make the fibres latch together. This way we’re using 80% less water compared to if SIVIRENE was made from new cotton alone”, says Nishant.

Small print for less imprint

The team also looked at how the design could contribute. They agreed that a small print pattern in a soft colour would give several benefits. Less chemicals would be needed to get the dye to attach to the fabric – and SIVIRENE would also be easier to match with other furnishings. “By using resources wisely, we can make it easier for people to live a more sustainable life at home. SIVIRENE is just one small part of that, but every step counts,” says Nishant.