Enabling consumer choices for a circular economy

Introduction

Societies and policymakers are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of choices associated with their production and consumption systems. Traditionally, policy has focused on mitigating the environmental and climate impacts of production or industrial processes. Production/consumption systems are strongly linked, and production systems not only respond to but also shape demand through marketing strategies and advertising. 

This briefing focuses on consumer behaviour. It outlines how increasing circular economy-consistent consumer behaviour is not only about choosing the right product, but also how this behaviour can influence decisions upstream (e.g. material use and design of products) and downstream (e.g. recycling or reusing products). The briefing also explores how policies can enable more circular economy-consistent consumer behaviour by addressing the factors mainly responsible for shaping consumer choices. This briefing is based on a detailed technical report.

As consumers, we are faced with consumption choices every day. In making choices, our decisions favour actions representing either circular or linear consumer behaviour. For example, if we choose to buy unpackaged vegetables, we save the material resources used in producing the packaging, and when we service our cars regularly, we maintain the value of the parts and materials in the car. 

In assessing the differences between linear and circular consumer behaviour more systematically, specific points in a product’s life cycle are important, as consumer choices at these points have the greatest potential to increase the product’s circularity: the point of acquiring a product, the use phase and the end-of-use/-life stage (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Comparison of linear and circular consumer behaviour throughout a product’s life cycle

Factors affecting consumer behaviour

Policymaking in Europe increasingly recognises the value of influencing consumers to make more environmentally sustainable choices, while at the same time respecting their right to choose. This is because policies addressing the production aspect of production/consumption systems are often inadequate to address the growing demand for resources, despite advances in resource efficiency. However, to design effective consumer policies, the factors shaping consumer behaviour need to be properly understood so that policies address them successfully. 

Although there is no scientific consensus on the factors shaping consumer behaviour, the bulk of existing research points to these categories of factors shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Main groups of factors affecting consumer behaviour

How can policy promote consumer behaviour consistent with circular economy principles?

Countries and the EU are already active in implementing measures to make circular economy-consistent choices more attractive for consumers (see, for example, the European Commission sustainable products initiative), mainly focusing on providing information through labelling. More recently, the economic factors and the fit between needs and offering are increasingly being addressed by policymakers at both national and EU levels. Many countries have put in place tax breaks for certain repair services, trying to make circular options more economically attractive for consumers. The upcoming EU legislation on ensuring the ‘right to repair’ for certain consumer products is an example of fitting goods on the market to consumer needs. 

However, policymakers generally perceive that it is difficult to change social factors, personal beliefs and attitudes through policy tools. Private sector marketing strategies aim to shape these factors through long-term approaches and tools such as advertising or using social media influencers, often promoting linear product solutions (e.g. fast fashion). Policymakers can potentially affect these factors too by developing policy tools that directly address them (see the examples in Figures 4-6) or by limiting the effect of marketing strategies promoting linear products (e.g. by circular/linear product labels or by scrutinising the environmental claims made by marketing campaigns). 

Potential consumer behaviour nudging options to be explored vary according to the type of policy instrument and the level of intervention in consumer choices (e.g. from simple information provision to restrictions and bans). For a policy initiative to be effective, it needs to establish a clear link between the proposed measure and the factors shaping consumer behaviour, while the mechanism influencing more circular economy-consistent behaviour needs to be investigated. 

This section provides examples of policy measures addressing each of the behaviour-shaping factors, although there may be measures addressing more than one factor at a time. It is important to note that the examples below focus on short-term consumer behavioural change. A long-term behavioural change strategy is more resource intensive but is also more effective and can be implemented through education.

• Economic
• Fit between needs and offering
• Information used for choice
• Social