Circularity is coming around to good business sense

In the marathon journey of circularity, the strides are starting to add up. That said, it’s still not enough for strategies to just be good for consumers or good for the planet. They also have to be good for business.

At NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, sustainability leaders from IKEA U.S., Target and Walmart explored efforts in education, awareness and outreach to associates and consumers, and covered numerous efforts that are beneficial for all involved. Scot Case, vice president, corporate social responsibility and sustainability for the National Retail Federation, moderated the session.

Circularity and sustainability are not always top of mind for consumers, said Agata Ramallo Garcia, vice president, enterprise sustainability with Target. “However, what we have learned is that, when you actually align a potential solution to what they care about most, which is affordability, convenience and, of course, ease and quality, they are really, really willing to embrace it.”

The company found a big “unlock,” she said, with car seat trade-in events. Through the program, which started in 2016, more than 3 million car seats have been recycled, representing roughly 45 million pounds of car seat materials. Solutions like this resonate with guests, she said, as well as bring materials back into the supply chain and drive long-term value for the business.

At Walmart, there’s an effort to work with vendor partners upstream to explore what can be reused or recycled rather than ending up in a landfill. It began piloting a marketplace of secondhand products, starting with small appliances and electronics. After a lot of positive feedback, the company recently launched its Resold at Walmart marketplace to include gently used apparel, sporting goods, collectibles and other items.

“In less than a year, we have about 5 million products on that marketplace, supplied by about 1,500 sellers,” said Jerome Del Porto, head of corporate sustainability for Walmart. “It allows us to give great value to the customers, and a second life for products that can still be very useful to many.

There are also efforts around food waste; the company has partnered with Denali to help with de-packaging food that is no longer good, allowing associates to spend their time on the floor instead. Organic materials can then be used as animal feed or compost or converted into energy. There’s even a cell phone ecoATM, allowing consumers to drop off used phones at a kiosk for analysis and instantly receive cash for any recyclable value.

At IKEA, meanwhile, sustainability — and, by extension, circularity — are important enough that each country’s CEO is also the chief sustainability officer. The company puts out a Circular Product Design Guide with the aim of developing products with circular capabilities; IKEA U.S. is on a journey to transition toward a circular business.

There’s a buy back and resell program, naturally, but there’s also exploration of incorporating end waste back into the supply chain. Mardi Ditze, sustainability manager at IKEA U.S., spoke of the company’s SILVERSIDA series, for example, that turns ceramic production waste into new tableware.

Circularity has been “years in the making,” Ditze said. “This is the long game. This is not a sprint. In this marathon that we call circularity, we need infrastructure. We need partners. But there’s also this component that I think that we’re missing around the business model. There is business to be made in the circularity industry. We will need more supply. We’ll have to think about supply differently. We’ll have to have innovative solutions.”