Rebound effects may jeopardize the resource savings of circular consumption: evidence from household material footprints

Journal article

The article identifies consumer perspectives related to the activities that facilitate circular economy transitions across major consumption domains. Building on insights from surveys on the circular economy, we review consumer perspectives in the key consumption domains of food, housing, and transport, as well as consumer electronics. Our focus is on the responsibility for organizing the reuse of products and services, the preferred procedures for extending the lifespan of products and services, and the ways to acquire products and services. Analyzing responses from a representative survey of the population in Finland in 2018 (n=1555), we argue that consumers’ perspectives vary significantly across the domains examined. The responsibility for reuse is attributed mainly to consumers themselves, particularly in housing and consumer electronics. Personal activities are also highlighted in the extension of product and service lifespans in the domains of consumer electronics and transportation. As for acquisitions, the respondents overwhelmingly favored ownership over services or sharing. Further, statistically significant differences due to gender, age, education, income level, and household size were observed. The results indicate that domain-specific strategies to promote circularity that consider consumers’ backgrounds are likely to attract a better response from consumers than an all-encompassing approach.Peer reviewe

Authors: Ottelin, J; Cetinay, H; Behrens, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 104044-104044
• Publication date: 2020-07-29
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abaa78
• EISSN: 1748-9326
• ISSN: 1748-9326
• Language: English
• Keywords: Rebound effect (conservation); Purchasing; Goods and services; Context (archaeology); Business; Operations management; Consumption (sociology); Microeconomics; Energy consumption; Economics; Circular economy; Resource (disambiguation); Resource efficiency; Environmental economics; Sustainability; Economy; Renewable energy; Engineering; Incentive; Ecological footprint