Nina Mesiranta

Understanding how consumers learn to participate in the circular economy is vital for its success. This study addresses the question of how circular consumption practices are learnt on social media. A mixed-methods netnographic approach was employed to examine a social media community passionate about circular clothing practices. Social media observations and in-depth interviews with expert members of the community were combined with survey data on other members. Drawing on the theory of communities of practice, the study advances the understanding of how social learning unfolds in social media environments. The findings shed light on how inspiring circular competencies, the shared self-image of circular practitioners and a sense of purpose around circular consumption are collectively constructed through social media. Such insights are transferable to contexts beyond clothing consumption. The study contributes by revealing how social media communities can enable practice-based learning in the circular economy.

Shifting everyday consumption from linear to circular is a key sustainability challenge, and interventions targeting households and consumers are increasingly promoted as a means to support this transition. However, much remains unclear about the theoretical assumptions that underpin such interventions and how these shape their design and outcomes. This article presents a systematic literature review of interventions aimed at changing everyday consumption towards circularity in two high-impact domains: food waste and clothing consumption. After a screening process, 84 peer-reviewed intervention studies were analysed. The findings show that most interventions draw on behaviourist approaches, while the use of social practice theory remains limited. In the second stage of the analysis, focus was put on the subset of practice-theoretical intervention studies ( n = 5) to examine how they conceptualise practice change. As a result, we provide a refined categorisation of practice-theoretical intervention strategies. The article contributes by synthesising intervention research across two circular consumption domains and by advancing conceptual tools for analysing and designing practice-theoretical interventions, with implications for future research, policy, and practice.

Purpose: This study aims to examine food waste behaviours among university students in Indonesia by adapting the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) alongside the theory of domains of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 518 students at five Indonesian universities participated in an online survey, answering questions about their food waste behaviours based on the TPB and the domains of knowledge frameworks. Among them, 250 students had taken a course that covered the food waste topic, while 268 students had not taken the course. The data were later analysed by using partial least squares-structural equation modelling and measurement invariance across the composite models. Findings: The findings reveal that environmental awareness, attitude towards food waste behaviours, subjective norms and different types of knowledge which are procedural knowledge, declarative knowledge, personal and social knowledge significantly influence food waste behaviour. Students who attended a course related to the food waste topic were more likely to align their intentions to reduce food waste with their reduction behaviour. Originality/value: While previous research has highlighted the importance of the TPB in understanding food waste intentions and behaviour, studies also show that students’ knowledge about food waste plays a crucial role in shaping these intentions. This study builds on these insights by combining the TPB with the domains of knowledge theory, specifically looking at how participating in food waste-related courses influences food waste behaviours among Indonesian students.

While a circular economy (CE) paradigm shift has gained significant momentum among academics, practitioners, and policymakers, theory regarding its social aspects remains scant, especially theory based on an ethical, micro-level perspective. Circular consumption, referring to those consumption practices that aim to extend the lifetimes of objects and materials, involves ethical considerations. However, everyday circular consumption and its ethics have not gained a foothold in the CE literature. This article builds on the existing circular consumption literature by drawing insights from the posthuman feminist theorising of care, shifting the focus of care from humans to the complex relations between humans and nonhumans and conceptualising circular consumption practices as matters of care. This conceptualisation, which follows a thinking-with-theory approach, is based on empirical material constructed in two research projects focusing on frontrunner consumers in terms of circular consumption in Finland: food waste reduction and circular clothing consumption. We identify circular consumption as care by introducing three distinct perspectives: care as tinkering, care as affective practices, and care as ethico-political action. We show that approaching circular consumption practices as matters of care, while not always easy or straightforward, is an attempt to make consumption better: more attentive, inclusive, durable, and enjoyable. Our findings emphasise the interconnected nature of circular practices, the constant performativity of circular consumption, and nonhumans as crucial stakeholders in care relations. Consequently, we offer an alternative to technocentric CE perspectives and a way to promote a sustainable world through care.

Grocery retailers have a large amount of societally relevant data on food purchases in their databases, which they have traditionally used merely for marketing purposes. However, despite the potential, the data have so far been rarely used in sustainability‐related research. This study addresses a key sustainability challenge—the reduction of food waste—by using retailers' customer data and a questionnaire. This paper's purpose is to identify and analyse household food waste segments and discuss their actual purchasing behaviour patterns. By doing so, we also illustrate and exemplify the potential use of customer loyalty card data to address global challenges related to food at the consumer level. The study utilizes an extensive data set of food purchases together with a survey of self‐reported reasons for food waste in households. Utilizing cluster analysis, Phase 1 identifies six household segments: no food waste; trust in date labels; safety first; occasional wasters; overpurchasers and overpreparers; and family first. These segments differ in their sociodemographic and purchase profiles. In Phase 2, these segments' purchasing behaviour is examined further by applying tree‐based methods. This study contributes to food waste research and studies on sustainable retailing. It also has practical implications for how retailers can facilitate household food waste reduction.

Food waste is a global sustainability issue that demands that multiple stakeholders participate in solving it. This article examines how different food system stakeholders are held responsible in the policy debate related to food waste reduction. The study adopts a framing approach, paying attention to the construction and negotiation of what is going on in the food waste–related public policy debate. The data consist of documents generated as a result of food policy development processes in Finland. The authors identify four framings—eco-efficiency, solidarity, safety, and appreciation—within which the issue of food waste is presented differently and different stakeholders responsibilized. The framings reveal the nature of food waste as a boundary object, a flexible and open-ended object that has different context-dependent meanings. The study extends marketing literature on responsibilization by investigating several stakeholders beyond consumers. Additionally, considering food waste a boundary object sheds light on how stakeholders, even those with conflicting interests, can debate policy measures collaboratively. Finally, the authors outline policy implications related to each framing.

This article explores the transition towards a circular economy in the context of household food waste practices. The research concerning the circular economy has mainly focused on engineering or the processes of production, manufacturing, business and industry. However, the transition towards a circular economy requires, in addition to new technologies, infrastructures and innovations, a societal change and a change in everyday practices. In this article, we address this by examining the everyday practices of food waste reduction in households as ethical work. We claim that the intertwined practices, institutions and policies of the circular economy create moral categories and responsibilities in everyday food consumption. Thus, the transition towards circular economy requires everyday ethical work carried out by consumers. However, our analysis also brings out some possible challenges related to this transition that has not yet been accomplished. Our research materials consist of 26 food waste diaries collected from Finnish households and participant observation in 4 leftover cooking workshops organized with the Finnish Martha organization. We adapt Michel Foucault’s conception of ethics, focusing on the constitution of ethical subjectivity in food waste practices. Moreover, we utilize practice theoretical approach that has been widely used in food waste and sustainable consumption studies and connect it with Foucault’s theory. Our results suggest that in order to understand the circular economy as a moral economy, it is crucial to note the moral complexity of everyday life that results from partly contradictory ethical sensitivities and practices.

This study focuses on food waste and its reduction by describing and analyzing the food waste-related everyday life of Japanese consumers through a practice theoretical lens. The research enables paying attention to the role of culture in sustainable consumer behavior, which is a largely unexplored area in previous food waste research. The methodological approach is qualitative and the empirical data of the study were generated through mobile ethnography. It combines elements from diary methods, multi-sited ethnography, and digital ethnography, producing visual and textual data of the practices that the participants of the study considered meaningful. The analysis identifies materials, meanings, and competences of the practices related to food waste reduction. These practices were interlinked with five broader food-related practices: planning, grocery shopping, cooking, eating, and handling surplus food. The findings reveal specific elements related to Japanese culture such as mottainai—a concept used to express the regret of wasting something valuable. The study contributes to the literature on sustainable consumption by emphasizing the importance of identifying and understanding how culturally linked practices may support sustainable (or unsustainable) consumption.