The circular economy is often highlighted as a future hope in the work for a more sustainable world. But what does it really mean for us as consumers to change - and how do we do it in practice? In a new doctoral thesis from Lund University, Réka Tölg examines how circular consumption actually works in everyday life, and what obstacles arise in an economy that is fundamentally designed to promote linear consumption.
- Circular consumption is not just about repairing and reusing things. It is also about caring - for the environment, for other people and for the future. But this work takes place in a structure that often hinders rather than enables sustainable choices,’ says Réka Tölg, PhD in Service Studies at Lund University.
The thesis seeks to understand how circular consumption is shaped, both in the retail sector and in Swedish households. Using ethnographic methods, Tölg studies how different actors try to make clothing consumption more circular - and what challenges they face along the way.
In the retail sector, the study shows, many circularity solutions, such as second-hand, rental and repair, are marketed. But these rely heavily on the consumer taking responsibility for caring for and preserving the clothes - a task that is rarely supported in a practical way. In addition, households need to coordinate time, knowledge and material resources, making circular consumption both demanding and complex.
- What are often presented as simple solutions - renting, repairing or passing on - are in fact practices that demand a lot from the consumer. And they don't always align with the other demands and logics of everyday life,’ says Tölg.
One of the most important contributions of the thesis is to show how circular consumption does not currently replace linear consumption patterns, but coexists with them - sometimes in conflict, sometimes in interaction. Therefore, to enable a real transition, Tölg says, retail needs to be reorganised. It needs not only to counteract the linear forms of consumption, but also to facilitate and relieve the care work that circular consumption entails.
The thesis provides new insights into the role of consumption in the transition to circular economies and makes an important contribution to both the sociology of consumption and research on sustainable markets.
The opponent was Mary Greene from Wageningen University and the examining committee consisted of Arve Hansen from Oslo University, Magdalena Petersson McIntyre from Fashion studies at Lund University and Jan Henrik Nilsson from Service studies at Lund University.
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The thesis on Lund University's research portal.
