Yesterday was World Ocean Day and what a fitting occasion to talk about Musselbloma- IKEA’s new fabric and upholstery collection that’ll hit stores in Italy & Spain. Cute as a button with bobbing fish heads all over and spots of color, at the onset you’d wonder how extremely adorable it is. But look deeper and you’ll find inspiration from the Mediterranean- both in terms of color and pattern. The sea-foam, the coral, the blacks and the greens- they are all so quintessential of the sea. Infact, the collection is made of recycled plastic, partly collected by Spanish fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea which also creates a demand for Ocean plastic.

Plastic as a topic was huge in this year’s IKEA Democratic Design Day, 2019

And the session perhaps saw the most number of people interested and attending. It was houseful with barely any place to sit and what a fabulous feeling it was to actually be a part of a very, very important movement! It was so fabulous to see so many of us conscious of our environment- not just through finding alternatives but also finding solutions in channeling the unwanted plastic that already exists on the ocean floor. And the only way to get rid of it is to create demand for it.

To have a positive impact on the oceans, IKEA will henceforth engage in projects to clean plastic pollutants from oceans and proactively prevent ocean plastic pollution. And MUSSELBLOMMA is one step for IKEA to use ocean plastic in products and turning them into raw material for the future.

The polyester fabric used in MUSSELBLOMMA is made from recycled plastic, including PET plastic waste caught in nets in the Mediterranean Sea and collected by Spanish fishermen. After the collection, the plastic is aggregated in containers onshore in ports and is then cleaned, sorted, mechanically recycled and together with recycled PET bottles made into yarn and fabric. For every kilo of PET plastic waste that can be used to make the polyester fabric another 9 kilos of waste like other plastics, metal, rubber, glass and other materials is also taken out of the ocean.

Caroline Reid, Sustainability Development Manager, IKEA range and supply spoke to us about this new venture in #IKEADDD2019 and is currently exploring different projects around the world to scale up this work, in collaboration with NGOs, partners, and suppliers. Here’s a short video for you to see from the headquarters.

When will see MUSSELBLOMA in India? We will know more about it during the year. But for you, here’s a very important tip about sustainability and going green:

DISCARDING YOUR PLASTIC DOES NOT MAKE YOU SUSTAINABLE.

If you thought, chucking away your plastic was the way to be green, here’s a pin to your bubble- you are contributing to more landfill than ever. What makes your home sustainable is using the plastic you own for years to come, re-use it in different ways to avoid discarding it and finally trade it for products and brands that work with recycled polyester.

When you buy recycled polyester, you are directly contributing to a greener tomorrow because the CO2 emission that comes from virgin polyester can be reduced. When you buy recycled plastic, you are encouraging brands who are giving in 100% to make this possible. When more brands are encouraged, there will be demand for discarded plastic. And imagine if we all wanted recycled plastic. How amazing will that be!

If you are buying new products, look towards natural materials that’ll last you ages. Glass, stainless steel, recycled plastic are all good. But if you are throwing things away just to be sustainable, mind you, you are harming the world greatly.

Be an advocate of a plastic free world in the right sense. For now, here’s MUSSELBLOMA for you. Aren’t that colour scheme and the fishy heads just perfect for a beach vacay!

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