Let’s Talk about Circular Economy: A Qualitative Exploration of Consumer Perceptions

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I suggest writing a more purposeful introduction. 

Furthermore, results in anaysis, discussion and conclusion should be written in different paragraphs. So to provide more evidence.

Highlight a clear account of what is novel in the paper.

 

 

 

Author Response

Reviewer 1

I suggest writing a more purposeful introduction. Furthermore, results in analysis, discussion and conclusion should be written in different paragraphs. So to provide more evidence.

In accordance with your comment we carefully reconsidered the full paper with regard to improving the structure and explain the reasoning behind our approach. Therefore we reformulated the first two paragraphs of the introduction.

1.1 Circular economy: rethinking both the supply and demand side

High hopes have been expressed that the circular economy (CE) will enhance environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. In essence, a CE requires a rethinking of both the supply and demand side of the “linear” and fossil-based economy as we know it which implies the transformation of the production and consumption system [3]. Although the importance of consumers has been underlined in several studies, none so far have investigated how consumer perceive CE.

There are multiple definitions of a CE (e.g., [1,2]). Common in these definitions is the idea that the transition towards a circular economy centres around 1) resource efficiency in the whole production chain that goes from the efficient use of nutrients to produce biomass up through the processing and into the products, their reuse and their life span; and 2) the designing out of waste, as the intention of a CE is to work towards a closed loop that is inextricably related to the safety of circular products and their production. More specifically a CE needs combined strategies to reduce, reuse and recycle activities [2]. Until now, the consumption side has received less attention than the production side—both theoretically and in practice—but several recent studies have underlined the importance of consumers and consumption in the further development of a CE [4-9]. Consumers have roles in a CE as purchasers, maintainers, repairers, sellers, sharers, collaborators, and waste discarders [5]. These consumer positions within a CE and the importance of their active involvement to achieve the CE goals contrasts with the current situation that is characterised by a lack of consumer awareness and acceptance (see, e.g., [4],[10]). To our best knowledge insights in consumer perception about the CE as the full concept is not available. The objective of this study is to improve our understanding of consumer perceptions by focussing on both CE as a general term and, more specifically, in terms of food-related practice cases of a circular nature. By taking these issues as topics of conversation in focus group discussions, we explore how consumers perceive the CE in an abstract level as well as more concrete levels. We aim to add to the emerging field of CE-research by gaining insights into consumer perceptions on the CE and finding possible entry points for research, intervention, and communication activities to stimulate consumer interest and involvement.

The current manuscript divides the sections of results, discussion and conclusion which have been rechecked and we did some reformulations of headers in order to avoid misunderstanding.

3.1 Associations with the circular economy as a term 3.3.1 Motives and advantages of food-related examples of a CE 3.3.2 Objections and disadvantages of food related examples of a CE 3.3.3 Consumer perceptions of behaviour and participation in the CE 3.4 General perceptions of the focus group discussion on CE

 

 

Highlight a clear account of what is novel in the paper.

Thanks for addressing this issue we went through the manuscript and more explicitly mention the novelty of our study and how it adds to the current literature and gaps:

lines 47-49 - To the best of our knowledge, insights into consumer perception about the CE as the full concept are not available. line 83-84 - Addressing such possible changes in the consumption domain is one issue; studying them empirically and from a consumer perspective is the next important issue. line 105 107 - Given this objective, and unlike studies that have been confined to specific circular solutions [4], our research includes exploration of the novel issue of consumer perceptions of the general concept of the CE. line 115-118 - While the CE has become a well-established topic of discussion among practitioners, policymakers and scholars, it is time for societal discourse; for the latter, we need to gain original insight into consumers’ views, understanding and engagement regarding circularity and circular consumption.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This article provides a nice introduction to consumer attitudes towards the circular economy.  However, the lack of literature, focus, and methods limits what can be drawn from it.  It would be useful to have a more extensive lit. review so we can see better how this article adds to existing knowledge.  The article seems to take a naive approach, towards understanding general attitudes, rather than solving any particular problem, such as how to overcome the info. gap, or how to make CE products more appealing, though these are alluded to in the discussion.  This makes the approach seem somewhat superficial and not as helpful as it could be.  Perhaps a more pragmatic approach could yield more fruit in terms of policy recommendations from the data already gathered.  The methods limit what can be gleaned from this effort.  Perhaps by triangulating the results against other literature and surveys, they will be more significant.

Author Response

This article provides a nice introduction to consumer attitudes towards the circular economy.  However, the lack of literature, focus, and methods limits what can be drawn from it.  It would be useful to have a more extensive lit. review so we can see better how this article adds to existing knowledge. 

Thanks that you appreciate our introduction. We did our utmost to include all relevant sources which are available at this moment. As addressed in the introduction this research field is emerging. There are insights about consumer acceptance of different CE initiatives, which are included in both the introduction and discussion (e.g. lines 57-66, lines 67-84).

Till now the consumer research about consumer perception of the CE in general is not available yet (lines 105-107): Given this objective, and unlike studies that have been confined to specific circular solutions [4], our research includes exploration of the novel issue of consumer perceptions of the general concept of the CE.

The article seems to take a naive approach, towards understanding general attitudes, rather than solving any particular problem, such as how to overcome the info. gap, or how to make CE products more appealing, though these are alluded to in the discussion.  This makes the approach seem somewhat superficial and not as helpful as it could be. 

The issues addressed in our study consists of two parts, firstly the new research area of consumer perception of the CE and secondly explore consumers perception of CE initiatives. The first issue indeed is a strait forward approach while the second one shows more topics and levels, which overlap with literature (described in lines 394-400). Indeed the novel aspect of this study is that we look a consumer perceptions of CE in general, not related to specific use cases of CE but as a concept.

Perhaps a more pragmatic approach could yield more fruit in terms of policy recommendations from the data already gathered.  The methods limit what can be gleaned from this effort.  Perhaps by triangulating the results against other literature and surveys, they will be more significant.

While we studied this emerging research field at this moment there are no insights yet about consumer perception of CE in general. Therefore we start with our exploration and propose to do future research 521-540. With regard to the CE practice cases we did compare it with the insights available there and see overlap between the studies (see lines 396-398). The key observations are meant to be supportive for both future research as well as policy recommendations.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf