In the quest for sustainable development, the circular economy and sustainable waste management have emerged as essential frameworks aimed at reducing environmental impact and promoting resource efficiency. However, a recent Perspective by Philipp Deutz, published in Nature Human Behaviour, challenges current paradigms by critically examining how human behavior and identities are framed within these intertwined fields. The article argues that the prevailing conceptualizations risk undermining the very sustainability goals they seek to advance, urging for a paradigm shift that embraces more nuanced and inclusive approaches to understanding people’s roles in these processes.
At the heart of Deutz’s analysis lies a subtle but profound issue: the differing ways in which individuals are portrayed in circular economy research compared to sustainable waste management studies. Circular economy literature habitually refers to individuals as ‘consumers,’ a framing that inherently ties behavior to market-driven, business-oriented logics. In contrast, sustainable waste management research often opts for a broader identifier, ‘people,’ which implicitly acknowledges the diversity of roles, contexts, and social dynamics influencing waste-related behavior. This bifurcation is not merely semantic but reflects deeply entrenched disciplinary divides that compartmentalize research agendas and obscure the complex realities of human engagement with environmental systems.
Such a separation has tangible consequences. By defining individuals primarily as consumers, circular economy scholarship tends to prioritize business models, consumption patterns, and economic incentives, potentially overlooking the socio-political and cultural dimensions shaping sustainable consumption and recycling practices. This economic centricity risks marginalizing the everyday experiences and contextual constraints that govern how people interact with waste and resources in their local environments. Conversely, sustainable waste management’s broader framing opens up avenues for interdisciplinary inquiry but is often under-theorized or methodologically narrow, failing to fully capture the heterogeneity of human motivations and barriers.
Deutz emphasizes the need for a profound methodological broadening in behavior research within these domains. Current dominant approaches, frequently quantitative and behaviorist in orientation, tend to isolate individual actions as variables for optimization, sidelining the contextual and structural factors that profoundly influence behavior. To transcend this limitation, a wider methodological palette is imperative—one that integrates qualitative insights, ethnographic depth, and critical realist perspectives. Such approaches can unearth the underlying social, political, and economic structures constraining or enabling sustainable practices, thereby providing a holistic understanding that can inform more effective policy and intervention strategies.
An expanded methodological toolkit is particularly crucial to address the variable and situated nature of human needs. People’s behavior around waste reutilization and product lifecycle management is contingent on myriad intersecting factors including cultural norms, socio-economic status, infrastructural availability, and political context. A one-size-fits-all behavioral model fails to recognize these nuanced influences, leading to interventions that may be ineffective or exacerbate existing inequalities. Appreciating this complexity necessitates a concerted shift towards participatory research designs and context-sensitive analyses that foreground people’s lived realities rather than abstracted consumer archetypes.
Another pivotal concern highlighted in the Perspective is the persistent and often overlooked inequalities both within and between countries that significantly impact circular economy implementation. Socioeconomic disparities mean that access to sustainable solutions is uneven, with marginalized communities frequently bearing the brunt of environmental degradation while enjoying limited benefits from circular strategies. This disparity calls into question the equity of prevailing sustainability models and demands that future research and policy explicitly interrogate and address these imbalances to avoid perpetuating social injustices under the guise of environmental progress.
The implementation of circular economy initiatives without accounting for such inequalities risks replicating patterns of environmental injustice and social exclusion. For example, in many low-income settings, informal waste pickers play a critical role in recycling but often operate without recognition, protection, or fair remuneration. Circular economy frameworks that prioritize formalized markets and consumer engagement may inadvertently displace these workers or fail to improve their conditions, thereby missing vital opportunities for inclusive sustainability transitions. Deutz’s analysis urges scholars and practitioners to critically evaluate who is included and excluded in circular economy narratives and who benefits from its growth.
To effectively integrate human behavior into circular economy and sustainable waste management research, Deutz advocates for the adoption of human-centered approaches grounded in critical realism. Critical realism offers a philosophical and methodological approach that bridges the gap between objective structures and subjective experiences, allowing for a nuanced analysis of how material conditions, social relations, and individual agency coalesce to shape environmental behavior. This framework moves beyond surface-level behavior patterns to uncover underlying mechanisms and causal pathways, thus enriching the explanatory power and practical relevance of research in these fields.
Human-centered approaches also emphasize the importance of qualitative methodologies such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, and case studies. These methods illuminate the diverse meanings, motivations, and constraints that guide people’s interactions with waste and resource cycles, highlighting the socio-political dimensions that quantitative metrics may overlook. Such richly textured data can inform co-designed interventions that resonate with community values and capabilities, fostering more sustainable and equitable circular economy systems that work for all stakeholders.
Moreover, this reorientation aligns with broader movements in sustainability science that champion transdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Integrating perspectives from social sciences, humanities, and local knowledge systems can deepen understanding and catalyze systemic change. Deutz’s Perspective underscores that only by positioning people—not merely consumers or data points—as central actors and knowledge holders can circular economy research propel transformative shifts toward truly sustainable futures.
In closing, the call to reframe the role of people in circular economy and sustainable waste management research is both timely and urgent. As global environmental challenges intensify, frameworks guiding policy and practice must evolve to reflect the complex socio-political realities shaping behavior. By challenging entrenched consumerist paradigms and advocating for critical, human-centered methodologies, Deutz’s work paves the way for more inclusive, equitable, and effective sustainability strategies.
The implications of this reframing extend beyond academia, influencing how governments, industries, and civil societies design programs and interact with communities. Recognizing the multiplicity of human identities and contexts necessitates flexible, adaptive policies that prioritize justice alongside efficiency. Ultimately, it is only through such holistic approaches that the circular economy can fulfill its promise as a cornerstone of a sustainable and resilient global society.
Subject of Research:
Analysis of human behavior framing in circular economy and sustainable waste management research, with focus on methodological approaches and socio-political inequalities affecting sustainable practices.
Article Title:
Reframing people in circular economy and sustainable waste management research
Article References:
Deutz, P. Reframing people in circular economy and sustainable waste management research. Nat Hum Behav 9, 2241–2248 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02341-z
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: November 2025
