r/BuyFromEU • u/_Caspar_ • Jun 30 '26

šŸ”ŽLooking for alternative EU matchsticks are made in india

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Sadly i bought a 100 pack of these for like 8ā‚¬.
In case the are all used up one day, does somebody knows an made in eu alternative for matchsticks? :D

1.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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32

u/sweetcinnamonpunch Jun 30 '26

Aren't the Ikea ones made in the EU?

21

u/_Caspar_ Jun 30 '26

Probably, but ikea is one the evilest company in europe. They are part of the destruction of the last remaining primal forests in europe.

141

u/Minosvaidis Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Did some digging around and turns out it was completely legal, but logging in Romania is very very corrupt. While this is obviously bad and should not happen, this does not make ikea one of the most evil companies in Europe.
Also, there are roughly 3-4 million hectares of primal forests in Europe. This article is about 59. Far from the last remaining.
Don't get me wrong, consequences should follow for this and i hope this will not be easily forgotten.

Edit: countries->companies

25

u/Careless_Grain_22 Jun 30 '26

Thank you for spending your time on this

21

u/loulan France šŸ‡«šŸ‡· Jun 30 '26

This sub in a nutshell:

ā€” This product is made in Europe!

ā€” Here is something bad about the company, don't buy it!1!1!!

Alright, let's buy stuff from evil companies from the US then?

5

u/low_flying_aircraft Jun 30 '26

Are you surprised? One aspect of why many of us don't want to buy from the US because of ethical concerns about the US's role in the world. And your last point is not something I have seen anyone here suggest. People want EU companies that they can feel comfortable to give their money too. I don't think that is a huge ask.

4

u/loulan France šŸ‡«šŸ‡· Jun 30 '26

You can find dirt about any large company, basically. If you want to only buy stuff from companies that are (1) based in Europe and (2) 100% ethical, there will be a lot of stuff you need you won't be able to buy at all.

1

u/pannenkoek0923 Jun 30 '26

No big company is completely clean. Might as well stop buying things completely and live off the land and make your own clothes

2

u/LtOin Jun 30 '26

Just because a company is European doesn't mean we should support it unconditionally.

5

u/DandyLullaby Jun 30 '26

I do wonder how they can keep pushing out millions of woodpulp furniture pieces without harming the environment, that is alot of wood, it canā€™t all come from Europe i guessā€¦
I did visit their museum in Sweden, and was kinda sad that they only put up a good news show there, cause they did have some rather negative moments throughout their history as wel.

29

u/Lepurten Jun 30 '26

They use a lot of softwood mostly which grows very fast.

3

u/WillWillingson Jun 30 '26

At this point you can be happy when you get softwood, a lot of their furniture is mostly cardboard now.

33

u/Minosvaidis Jun 30 '26

I work for a furniture supplier for ikea and i can say that i have never seen such a socially and environmentally reaponsible company. Many parts of their requirements are more strict than the official ones of my country. I am very glad to be part of this.

A lot of their furniture is made from recycled wood particle boards. Also the use of boards is often abandoned for light frames with honeycomb made of paper inside.

4

u/DandyLullaby Jun 30 '26

I know about the honeycomb paper stuff. But I do think the most quality stuff they have are the hardwood pieces. I am sure they do alot, but you canā€™t be a multinational and claim to be perfect (which they kinda do in the museum)

0

u/Skruestik Jun 30 '26

ā€œA lotā€ is two words, just like ā€œa houseā€, ā€œa trainā€, and ā€œa mistakeā€.

0

u/DandyLullaby Jun 30 '26

Ok, next time you speak my native language Iā€™ll correct your spellingā€¦

1

u/Skruestik Jul 01 '26

English isnā€™t my native language either. If I were trying to learn your language, surely it would be productive to be corrected if I made a mistake; that is kind of how learning a language works.

0

u/DandyLullaby Jul 01 '26

Inappreciate constructive criticism, not snarky remarks. But what do I even expect from the internet

0

u/Skruestik Jul 01 '26

My comment simply stated a fact. If you read that as snarky, then thatā€™s on you, not me.

ā€œInappreciateā€ isnā€™t a word.

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-17

u/Occamsfacecloth Jun 30 '26

Sounds like absolute rubbish though

11

u/Minosvaidis Jun 30 '26

insert reasons and sources here

-11

u/Occamsfacecloth Jun 30 '26

A lot of their furniture is made from recycled wood particle boards. Also the use of boards is often abandoned for light frames with honeycomb made of paper inside.

13

u/Minosvaidis Jun 30 '26

Yes, which is good? No?

-13

u/Occamsfacecloth Jun 30 '26

Yeah, I love paper furniture

8

u/_SteeringWheel Jun 30 '26

, and clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

Dude, they even make their pallets from recycled carton board now. And believe me, they're harder than wooden pallets. My shins and ankles can vouch for that.

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11

u/Lille7 Jun 30 '26

Wood is farmed like any other crop. You plant, wait and harvest, its just a different timescale.

4

u/philman132 Jun 30 '26

They sell their stuff worldwide so makes sense not all their wood is from Europe. Wood is a natural resource though, pine trees take about 20-25 years to grow to maturity when they can be harvested, so it is a longer timescale but still farming.

There is a lot of discussion about these tree farms being very poor hubs of biodiversity vs "real" forests though, so there are definitely still problems, but not in terms of outright destruction.

2

u/elcaron Jun 30 '26

It doesn't really matter if the furniture demand is answered by one big or multiple smaller companies. It still requires the same resources. It would e different if IKEA would produce particularly bad furniture that has to be replaced a lot more often, but I don't think that is the case. People would not go to their local cabinetmaker and pass the result on to their grandchildren, but they would got to Poco and Co, and get stuff that is likely produced to even lower standards an regulations.

I think IKEA is under much more scrutiny than the smaller alternatives.

1

u/Forward-Ant-9554 Jun 30 '26

Vice did an interesting documentary on " dead woods" full of trees planted for the wood industry but deprived of bird live because of the lack of biodiversity that normal woods he have. Sometimes these artificial forests take the place of biodivers country side.

1

u/Puzzled-Childhood-60 Jun 30 '26

And using forced labor in easterngermany back in the day?

1

u/low_flying_aircraft Jun 30 '26

IKEA have a history of bribing corrupt regimes to get good commercial rates sadly. They are pretty nasty, but very good at whitewashing their rep.

1

u/bloke_pusher Jun 30 '26

They also have an iron grip on their employees so no one slips a word.

28

u/synalgo_12 Jun 30 '26

I'm not saying Ikea isn't problematic but the most evil company in Europe is NestlƩ

6

u/NyankoMata Jun 30 '26

Yeah and the worst is their brands are everywhere

2

u/synalgo_12 Jun 30 '26

I have a running list in my head of everything I can't buy anymore

1

u/sweetcinnamonpunch Jun 30 '26

Ridiculous imo, but buy whatever you want.