On the circular marathon journey, the steps are starting to add up. That said, it’s still not enough for strategies to simply be good for consumers or good for the planet. They should also be good for business.
At NRF 2025: The Great Retail Show, sustainability leaders from IKEA US, Target and Walmart explored efforts in education, awareness and outreach to associates and consumers and covered numerous efforts that are beneficial to all involved. Scot Case, vice president, corporate social responsibility and sustainability for the National Retail Federation, moderated the session.
The big retail show
Check out the summary for photos, video clips and more event coverage from NRF 2025.
Recycling and sustainability aren’t always top of mind for consumers, said Agata Ramallo Garcia, vice president, corporate sustainability with Target. “However, what we’ve learned is that when you actually align a potential solution to what they care about most, which is affordability, convenience and, of course, convenience and quality, they’re really, really willing to embrace it.”
The company found a major “unlock,” she said, with car seat trade events. Through the program, which began in 2016, more than 3 million car seats have been recycled, representing approximately 45 million pounds of car seat material. Solutions like this resonate with guests, she said, as well as return materials to the supply chain and bring long-term value to the business.
At Walmart, there is an effort to work with upstream vendor partners to explore what can be reused or recycled instead of ending up in a landfill. Began piloting a used products market, starting with small appliances and electronics. After much positive feedback, the company recently launched it Re-sold at Walmart market to include gently used clothing, sporting goods, collectibles and other items.
“In less than a year, we have about 5 million products in that market, supplied by about 1,500 vendors,” said Jerome Del Porto, head of corporate sustainability for Walmart. “This allows us to give great value to customers and a second life for products that can still be very useful to many people.
There are also efforts around food waste; the company has in partnership with Denali to help package food that is no longer good, allowing associates to spend their time on the floor. The organic materials can then be used as animal feed or fertilizer or converted into energy. It even has a cell phone ecoATMallowing consumers to drop off used phones at a kiosk for analysis and receive instant cash for any recyclable value.
Meanwhile, at IKEA, sustainability—and, by extension, turnover—are important enough that each country’s CEO is also the chief sustainability officer. The company issues a Circular Product Design Guide in order to develop products with circular capabilities; the goal is to be 100% circular by 2030.
There is one buy back and resell programof course, but there is also exploration of incorporating final waste back into the supply chain. Mardi Ditze, sustainability manager at IKEA US, spoke for the company SILVERSIDE series, for example, that turns pottery production waste into new tableware.
The turnover has been “years in the making,” Ditze said. “This is the long game. This is not a sprint. In this marathon we call circulation, we need infrastructure. We need partners. But there’s also this component that I think we’re missing around the business model. There is business to be done in the circulation industry. We will need more supplies. We will have to think about supply differently. We will have to have innovative solutions.”
