IKEA has announced that it is launching a pioneering used furniture ‘Buy Back’ scheme next month in an attempt to promote recycling.
The Swedish furniture giant’s second-hand venture intends to buy back the items of its furniture that you no longer want or need in exchange for vouchers that are worth up to 50% of the original price of the piece which can then be spent at its stores.
The Buy Back initiative will launch in the UK to coincide with Black Friday on 27th November.
Offering an insight into the how the scheme will work on its website, IKEA said: “We’re giving furniture a second chance at life [because] contributing to a healthier planet is one of our key priorities here at IKEA [and] all of our products will be made from recycled or regenerative materials by 2030.
“We can help you give your IKEA product a second life at our Circular Hub and you could get a voucher for your efforts.”
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By making sustainable living more simple and accessible, IKEA has stated that it hopes the initiative will help its customers to “take a stand against excessive consumption this Black Friday and in the years to come”.
So, how exactly does it work then?
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The international scheme is set to run in 27 countries.
It applies to furniture typically without upholstery – such as the famous Billy bookcases, chairs, stools, desks and dining tables – and will see customers given vouchers of a value to which will depend on the condition of the items they are returning.
Customers wishing to return items through the scheme must log the item they wish to return via the online calculator here, where they will then be given an estimate of its value.
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According to the initial criteria laid out by IKEA, items that are “as new” items – which means they are presented with no significant scratches – will get a voucher for 50% of the original price, “very good” items with minor scratches will get 40%, and then “well used” – which will likely pertain to items with deep or several scratches – will get a 30% voucher.
IKEA has said that anything that cannot be resold will be recycled.
They should then return them – fully assembled – to the returns desk at a participating IKEA store, where they will be checked, have the final value agreed upon, and the voucher issued.
The trail is currently only running at IKEA Edinburgh and Glasgow, but details of further stores across the UK – to which the North West region is anticipated to see a participating venue – will be announced ahead of the scheme’s full launch on Black Friday, so keep your eyes peeled.
You can find more information about the IKEA Buy Back scheme here.
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
19th October 2020 
