Understanding Consumer Behavior in the Circular Economy: Insights from CIRCOMOD survey
This blog article has been prepared by our colleagues from NTNU, Altamash Bashir and Christian Klöckner, who conducted the survey among consumers in Germany, India, Italy, and South Africa.
Promoting a circular economy (CE) is a strategy that promises a paradigm shift towards sustainable societies. CE encourages waste minimization and efficient resource management through sustainable practices, playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through material reuse, recycling, refurbishment, and repurposing. To accurately predict the impact of CE strategies on material production and consumption, it’s essential to include material flow and CE impacts in global models.
The Importance of Consumer Behavior
Despite the significant role consumers play in the successful implementation of CE strategies, current models often underrepresent consumer behavior dynamics. Improving and extending data on consumer behavior is vital because consumers and their consumption patterns are key to the success of CE transitions. Various intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence consumer behavior towards sustainable consumption, with impacts varying significantly across cultures, regions, and socio-economic groups. Currently, most available information about consumption is limited to Western countries and a narrow set of circular actions.
CIRCOMOD aims to broaden the information base by including consumer behavior insights from diverse geographical regions towards less explored circular practices. To achieve this, we developed a survey for deliverable 3.3, based on an extensive literature review and feedback from modeling teams, selecting countries, product domains, and circular actions as reference points.
Survey Methodology
The survey focused on two main product categories (furniture and electricals/electronics) across four countries (Germany, India, Italy, and South Africa), addressing less explored circular actions (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle). It included 51 questions covering respondents’ socio-demographic factors, willingness to engage and pay more, knowledge/awareness about CE practices, and perceived barriers and motivations towards the circular economy. The survey was implemented, and data collection was started in March 2024 and ended in April 2024. A total of 4,216 responses were collected through an online platform, ensuring representative demographics from each country.
Behavioral Insights
The survey revealed significant differences among countries regarding purchasing behavior, with a focus on societal and environmental sustainability over price and quality.
To what extent do you agree with the statement: “When making any purchases, I prioritize societal and environmental sustainability over price and quality”?
In addition, respondents engaged in various sustainable practices like repair, reuse, recycle, refurbish, and sharing, shows significant differences between countries.
How much do you engage with the following sustainable consumption practices within the circular economy? Â
a) Repair b) Reuse c) Recycle d) Refurbished e) Sharing
When asked about future considerations for engaging in circular actions, most respondents expressed a willingness to increase their participation. Notably, 45% of respondents in India and South Africa were “extremely willing” to invest in CE furniture and electrical/electronic products, three times higher than respondents in Germany and Italy.
Please indicate your willingness to invest more in
a) Electrical/ electronic products b) Furniture products
The survey explored potential changes in daily habits towards sustainable consumption, revealing significant differences between countries in reducing consumption, selling, or donating products, buying second-hand items, recycling, and using refilled or reused products. The results indicate a substantial potential for positive shifts in consumer engagement and perceptions of CE practices. However, engagement and willingness towards circular consumption vary significantly across regions and subgroups.
Respondents from India and South Africa showed greater keenness to engage in the circular economy compared to their European counterparts. Many respondents were reluctant to buy reused or refurbished products due to lack of awareness or perceived lower value.
The respondents from Germany, India, South Africa observed that guarantees for the repair of or inclination towards buying used items as motivation to incline more towards CE products. In addition, access to shared tools appeared to be slightly more motivating for respondents from India and South Africa in comparison to respondents from Germany and Italy.
Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, education, income level, and residence influenced consumer behavior, with females, educated, high-income individuals, and urban residents showing higher willingness to participate in sustainable consumption across all countries
Conclusion
These findings imply that targeted policies and strategies considering consumers’ backgrounds are crucial for promoting circularity. A one-size-fits-all approach is less effective than tailored strategies that address the specific needs and behaviors of different consumer segments. CIRCOMOD’s study highlights the need for a diversified approach to foster a successful transition to a circular economy, leveraging consumer insights to drive sustainable practices globally.
For more detailed information, we invite you to explore the contents of this Deliverable that will become available at https://circomod.eu/circomod-deliverables/ soon.Â
Stay tuned for more exciting developments under CIRCOMOD!
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