> Most of the "back in the day" furniture came from tearing down virgin woods. Sorting + shredding-recycling + making new "cheap particle board crap" furniture takes a lot of energy, but not a lot of non-renewable resources.

It also lasted a lot longer. I have inherited furniture that must be around a 100 years old now and a lot that is over 50 years old and doing fine. A lot of my friends have older (even hundreds of years old in a fe cases). A lot of IKEA furniture will go in a decade or less, and they are far from the worst ­- I have chucked out furniture after three or four years. My IKEA wardrobe has deteriorated after five years.

You do not have to make better furniture by chopping down virgin woods. You can get timber from well managed forests. It is also an incentive to grow trees to maturity. You can upcycle things (the largest bit of old furniture I have got rid of went to someone who did just that). You can make better furniture by better use of recycled materials.

> particle board will be much lighter than "normal wood" furniture

It slowly buckles under load which is bad for things like bookshelves.

This seems delusional to me, being older and more experienced with how long IKEA stuff actually lasts.

8 years is long for IKEA furniture, usually something has irreplaceablely broken by then.

IKEA also refuse to sell you spare parts.

Give me real furniture anyday.