IKEA is celebrating 30 years of its FRAKTA bag with an updated version now made with a minimum of 90% recycled material.
More than 44 million FRAKTA bags are sold each year, making it the single most purchased IKEA home furnishing product. Originally designed as a practical way to bring purchases home, it quickly became one of the most recognisable symbols of IKEA and a versatile solution for everyday tasks at home and beyond.
The bag is available in 36 and 71 litre sizes, with IKEA’s Swedish-based development team spending several years identifying innovative solutions that enabled the FRAKTA bag to ‘significantly’ increase its share of recycled material content – whilst maintaining the characteristics that made it a household favourite.
Now featuring a minimum of 90% recycled material, at least 70% of that comes from packaging waste from the food and plastics sectors – such as plastic food containers or jumbo bags used for milk powder. Both the body and handles of the bag are made from a single material, recycled polypropylene.
A small amount of blue pigment has been added to preserve the bag’s iconic blue colour, while a minimal share of virgin polypropylene helps maintain the strength needed to carry up to 25 kg.
Additionally, the blue bag is now made through a fully automated production process, helping ensure greater efficiency, consistent quality and reduced material losses during production.
Produced in one seamless operation, the handles are fused directly into the material rather than stitched on manually, as in previous versions. This update saves production time and approximately 89,000 km of thread. In the factories where the FRAKTA bags are produced, any leftover material from the process is collected and fed back into the production line to create new bags.
These production changes have also helped IKEA offset the additional processing, sorting and quality-control costs associated with recycled polypropylene, enabling the FRAKTA bag to retain its low price, IKEA explained.
Jakub Brat, engineering manager at IKEA, said, “Achieving a high share of recycled material content in the FRAKTA bag meant overcoming significant technical challenges. Recycled polypropylene requires additional processing and quality control, while redesigning the FRAKTA bag to use a single material involved rethinking key elements of the bag without compromising strength or affordability. Through years of testing and close collaboration with suppliers, the team was able to transform how the FRAKTA bag is made while keeping it recognisably FRAKTA.”
Julia Rosenberg, product developer for the updated FRAKTA bag at Ikea, added, “The FRAKTA bag is one of our most loved and iconic products, so updating it came with a clear responsibility. We wanted to increase the share of recycled material without compromising on what makes FRAKTA unique: its functionality, simplicity, distinctive design and low price. While the bag may look the same, a great deal has changed beneath the surface.”
