The Bringing the Consumer into the Picture: Normalising the Circular Economy report was produced by WPI Economics and drew on a series of focus groups exploring public perceptions of circularity.
According to the findings, the terminology widely used across the sector has become one of the “single biggest inhibitors” to progress.
Adam Read, Chief Sustainability and External Affairs Officer at Suez, commented: “We have the policy, the industry innovation, and the desire for change. But we are speaking a language that only insiders understand.
“To realise the £25 billion economic boost and 470,000 new jobs the Circular Economy could create by 2035, we must articulate better how we can encourage Consumers to become Conservers and that starts with talking about repair, re-use, and affordability, not abstract economic models.”
‘Circular economy’ turning consumers off
Researchers found that the term “circular economy” itself consistently caused people to disengage.
Instead of sparking interest, the phrase was unfamiliar and viewed as overly technical, prompting many participants to “switch off” before the conversation had even begun.
Compounding the issue, commonly used terms such as “waste prevention” and “sustainability” were often interpreted as simply meaning “recycling”, further muddying the waters and reducing the impact of efforts to communicate the wider systemic benefits of reuse, repair and reduction.
The report also revealed that even those who are actively participating in circular behaviours – repairing phones, donating clothing, or buying second-hand goods – failed to associate their actions with any broader environmental or economic outcomes.
This disconnect, it argued, is limiting public engagement and hindering efforts to scale up individual actions into mainstream habits.
Laura Osborne, Managing Director of WPI Economics, explained: “We saw our focus groups fall cleanly into two distinct types of consumers – the ‘Proactives’ who already want to lessen their impact on the environment by repairing and reusing but need a bit more facilitation – and the ‘Pragmatics’ who will change behaviour only if it proves more convenient or cost-effective.
“Communicating meaningfully with both groups means simplifying the terms across the board, understanding their distinct motivations and then designing messages that resonate accordingly.”
Communications must be stripped of jargon
In response, Suez is urging the sector, policymakers and local authorities to overhaul their approach and place the public at the heart of circular-economy messaging.
The company is calling for:
- Communications to be stripped of jargon and shaped around what motivates people most
- Participation in reuse, repair and reduction to be made effortless
- A stronger coordinating role from government across national and local policy
- Support for models people already understand, including buy-back schemes and reuse platforms
Read added: “The debate is over as to why we need to move to a circular economy – we can’t continue to consume the Earth’s finite resources and then just discard them.
“But by confusing the message with unnecessarily complicated jargon, we are turning off the very people we need to change from consumers into conservers.
“Without this, and a fundamental shift to make circularity accessible and desirable to the wider population, progress toward a thriving, resource efficient UK circular economy is likely to remain stalled.”
