Most People Have Not Heard of the Circular Economy. Marketers Can Help

As companies shift to more circular systems—meaning those that avoid drawing on virgin materials or result in landfill-bound end products—a new set of terminology is emerging to help define how that plays out across industries.

While startups like For Days, Blueland and Thousand Fell have built circularity into their business models, even mainstream shops like like H&M, Coca-Cola and Athleta have incorporated circularity language into their messaging in recent years to communicate how sustainability efforts have grown.

The problem for brands, though, is that those terms don’t mean much to the average shopper.

Data from an Adweek-Morning Consult survey shows that just a quarter of Americans have seen at least some references to the circular economy in brand messaging. Familiarity with the term increased with education and income level, but most consumers (74%) said they hadn’t heard the term much or at all.

So, how should brands be talking about their efforts to build circularity into their businesses?

Experts told Adweek that avoiding jargon and prioritizing consumer education will support brands’ messaging efforts within this space. At the same time, transitioning to a circular economy is far from simple. Brands have a significant role to play in supporting—if not leading—those efforts across their industries and educating people along the way.

Keep it simple

At its core, a circular economy is made up of the same three principles that many people have long been familiar with: “Reduce, reuse and recycle,” said Matthew Hawthorne, sustainability consultant at environmental consultancy Quantis.

“That’s all circularity is about,” he explained. “How do we reduce our consumption of resources … reuse what we can that we already own … and then, finally, recycle whatever doesn’t maintain its value. How do we try and recover those resources to be used again, to the best of their ability?”

As companies build out resale and take-back programs, innovate with recycled materials and find new uses for their products’ end-of-life, cutting the sustainability jargon is crucial for communicating with the public—especially when it requires the customer to take action.

We’re all circular sometimes

In some ways, and in some instances, consumers are already practicing the behaviors of a circular economy.

Thanks to electronics trade-in programs offered by brands like Apple and Dell, many people understand that an old phone, computer or tablet still holds value, noted Stuart Ahlum, co-founder and COO at textile recycling startup SuperCircle.

When shoppers bring those products back to the manufacturer or an electronics retailer to earn a discount on their next purchase, that action is part of a more circular system.

Newer language around circularity “is definitely going to take time to filter into the mainstream,” Ahlum said. But brands have a role to play through educational content, adopting end-of-life reporting and supporting extended producer responsibility initiatives.

“While the language of circularity might be new, the concept is already really clearly understood in practice, especially when trade-in credits are involved,” he added.

It starts with a redesign

To build an entirely circular economy, however, brands and their customers have to extend those sustainable practices across every industry. And that’s a lot less simple than tossing something in a recycling bin.

Becoming circular “requires a complete system redesign from sourcing, supply chain, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, retail consumption and recovery,” said Phil White, co-founder and chief strategy officer at sustainability-focused agency Grounded World.

“Brands and retailers have been built to ‘make, take and sell’ not ‘collect, reuse and resell’ … so you can imagine the gargantuan shift in operations, go-to-market strategy and consumer behavior change that is required,” he added.

Grounded uses a “5Rs” model to help clients chart a roadmap toward circularity: redesign, reduce, reuse, recycle and reinforce.

At The LYCRA Company, they’re initially focused on the first three, White explained. That means “reducing the use of fossil-based resources and switching to reusable inputs to make fibers from things like plastic bottles and textile waste.”