
A recently completed survey involving over 5,000 participants across 5 countries offers valuable insights into current and future engagement with the circular economy. Drawing on data from the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, this research, part of the multinational CircEUlar research project, captures activities that contribute to circularity—a key component in achieving sustainable development.
The survey, led by LMU Munich, was designed to record participants’ current engagement with circular practices such as borrowing, lending and sharing as well as their willingness to adopt such practices in the future. Specifically, the survey focused on mobility, space sharing and second-hand trading. Mobility practices such as car-sharing, short-term rental and the use of public transport are investigated, in addition to participants’ current levels of engagement in the sharing of residential spaces such as gardens, hallways, common and utility rooms.
The role of digitalisation in facilitating sharing, reuse, and other circular consumption practices also features prominently, specifically in the area of second-hand trading. Participants recorded the type and frequency of items they typically trade, and whether or not they felt that digitalisation helped or hindered their active engagement in second hand markets.
Employing representative sampling, the study captures diverse perspectives across demographic and socio-economic groups and countries, with preliminary results revealing variations in engagement and attitudes in areas such as willingness to share cars or household appliances. This points towards the need for tailored strategies to promote circular consumption in different national contexts.
By Dr. Eoin Grealis & Prof. Dr. Henrike Rau, Chair of the Human Environmental Relations Research and Teaching Unit at the Department of Geography, LMU Munich