It is typical for IKEA to have very long supplier collaborations. Vilniaus Baldai AB is a furniture producer who has been one of our business partners since 1997. “When we first started, we produced only one product, the RAKKE wardrobe, and today we produce over 80 articles,” says Jonas Krutinis, General Manager at Vilniaus Baldai.
Production at Vilniaus Baldai consists mainly of board on frame (BoF) constructions, which produces large amounts of sawdust waste. Over the years, as the product range consisting of BoF constructions has expanded, the amount of sawdust waste has increased. To help transform this waste, the Heat Energy Renovation Project was initiated.
Sawdust from our production is not suitable for recycling as it contains high amounts of fibreboard that cannot be separated. That’s why we use the sawdust for heating in production and generate energy to produce our furniture.
Previously, the sawdust waste was only really used for internal heating systems, but with the Heat Energy Renovation Project the total internal energy usage, relating to both heat and production use, now only equals 40% of the output. This means that the remaining 60% of generated heat can instead be made available to the city of Vilnius. All aspects of production by Vilniaus Baldai is now based on 100% renewable energy, significantly improving the efficient use of resources.
