Research Line: Urban Rural Circularity / Seed Call: i4CS April 2024

The Gemeente Utrecht has set an ambitious goal to become fully circular by 2050, adopting a broad and asset-based approach to reduce consumption and prevent waste. This approach builds on the actions of residents and enterprises already engaged in reusing, sharing, and upcycling materials. The secondhand economy plays a crucial role in this transition, with secondhand shops and online platforms making it increasingly accessible for people to participate as circular consumers or donors. Beyond market exchanges, many residents engage in non-market practices such as sharing, giving, and finding items within social networks, free stores, mini-libraries (mini-biebs), dumpsters, and public spaces.

This complexity of the secondhand economy goes beyond simple consumption, encompassing a wide range of behaviors and practices. Conversations with Gemeente Utrecht revealed significant barriers for kringloopwinkels (secondhand shops) in closing the loop on donated items, particularly textiles and furniture. These shops often receive more donations than they can sell, creating challenges in managing excess materials. A survey of 4,000 Utrecht residents (Oktoberpeiling) revealed that while 63% have visited a secondhand shop, only 35% feel a need to increase their secondhand consumption. Barriers identified include issues of cost, perceived value for money, quality concerns, cleanliness, limited variety, and lack of knowledge on where to find specific secondhand goods, such as building materials. Despite frequent visits to secondhand shops, many residents underestimate their importance in the transition to a circular society.

Objectives and Route to Impact

Gemeente Utrecht has already taken significant steps to address the bottleneck in secondhand materials through various upcycling interventions. These include partnerships, education, infrastructure, innovation, and logistics support at sites like Hof van Cartesius and, eventually, Lunetten. However, based on survey findings and conversations with the Gemeente, there is a need for further research to explore additional demographic segments, as the existing data primarily reflects the views of highly educated residents, potentially underrepresenting less affluent communities. Moreover, the survey, which focuses broadly on circularity, offers only a surface-level understanding of Utrecht’s complex secondhand economy.

The next phase of progress requires a deeper, more rigorous investigation into the barriers, motivations, and strategies for participating in Utrecht’s circular economy. This research will focus on characterizing these dynamics by product groups and demographic segments, aiming to create actionable, evidence-based transition concepts for enhancing the secondhand economy.

Methods and Deliverables

The project will proceed with the following objectives:

1. Qualitative and Semi-Quantitative Understanding of Motivations: Investigate the motivations and aspirations of current and potential participants in upcycling, including their visions for circular practices.
2. Exploring Barriers in the Upcycling Cycle: Examine the cultural, economic, and logistical barriers in the donating, selling, and buying cycles of upcycling, identifying challenges that impede wider participation.
3. Material Flow Analysis: Investigate the material flows into and out of secondhand shops to identify barriers and opportunities for improving circularity and the flow of materials.
4. Development of a Typology of Acquiring and Discarding Strategies (TADS): Create a scientifically rigorous typology of acquiring and discarding strategies, focusing on two prioritized product categories (e.g., furniture and kitchenware), informed by demographic segments.
5. Creation of Archetypal Success Stories: Develop archetypal success stories of individuals benefiting from secondhand acquiring and discarding strategies, offering insights into potential business model or logistics adaptations that could support the psychological and cultural transition to upcycling.
6. Pilot Testing and Observation: Pilot the use of these success stories and experiences, observing their potential to normalize upcycling and support broader behavioral transitions in the community.
7. Expansion Beyond Seed-Funded Phase: After the initial seed-funded phase, the Gemeente can apply the tested transition methods to additional demographic segments, product groups, and business models.

The target groups for this research include kringloop donors, current and potential consumers, and other circular economy stakeholders. During the seed-funded phase, the project will enhance data collection, particularly around material flows and the barriers faced by underrepresented groups. This will include direct engagement with kringloopwinkel staff, consumers, and participant observation at various secondhand shops, ensuring a more diverse range of voices is heard.

The outcome of this research will be a set of recommendations for the Gemeente and kringloopwinkels, along with innovative ideas for future experiments, such as using virtual reality, future visioning, and storytelling to inspire participation. These interventions can then be replicated across different product groups and demographic segments in the subsequent phase of the project.

The overall goal is to reduce the barriers to participating in Utrecht’s secondhand economy by gathering, mapping, and telling the everyday stories of how items flow through the system—from donation to reuse or disposal. These insights will help catalyze the transition to a more circular society in Utrecht.

Contribution to cross-EWUU collaboration

The project team initially came together at the I4CS Pressure Cooker event, where we engaged in discussions with Linde Leenhouts and Desiree van de Ven from Gemeente Utrecht. Through these conversations, we identified shared aspirations for transforming stakeholders’ thinking around upcycling and the circular economy in Utrecht. We recognized that, alongside technological and policy solutions, it is crucial to understand the everyday lives, motivations, and constraints of individuals participating in the upcycling process.

This project benefits from a unique and interdisciplinary collaboration, combining expertise from multiple domains to create a holistic approach to upcycling. Our collective knowledge spans circular economy principles, sustainability transitions, and creative methodologies, all of which contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the circular economy. The proposal has been reviewed and agreed upon by Desiree van de Ven, ensuring alignment with Gemeente Utrecht’s goals.

Our team’s expertise in various fields enriches the project:

• Nina Rosa (WUR Cultural Geography) contributes knowledge on how immersive interventions can elicit pro-environmental reactions, offering tools for engaging individuals in upcycling practices.
• Dan Lockton (TU/e Industrial Design) brings expertise in understanding the imaginaries, experiences, and attitudes of individuals engaging in upcycling. This insight can inform interventions aimed at shaping more sustainable behaviors.
• Robert Weijers (UU Social, Health & Organisational Psychology) provides a behavioral perspective, enabling a deeper, intervention-oriented approach to promoting upcycling and understanding human motivations.
• Arturo Castillo Castillo (UU Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development) brings expertise on scaling up upcycling and repurposing practices, helping to address systemic challenges and envision wider uptake.
• Oona Morrow (WUR Rural Sociology) broadens the perspective by focusing on socio-technical and socio-economic constraints, ensuring that the project’s findings are placed in a wider context and can inform sustainable business models.

This collaborative effort integrates diverse perspectives and methodologies to create a more robust and actionable strategy for fostering upcycling behaviors and supporting Utrecht’s circular economy goals. Together, the team will explore both individual and societal factors that influence upcycling and leverage innovative, behavior-changing interventions to promote circular practices throughout the city.

Team

• Nina Rosa – WUR Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing – Principle Investigator
• Dan Lockton – TU/e Industrial Design
• Robert Weijers – UU Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Arturo Castillo Castillo – UU Geosciences
• Oona Morrow – WUR Rural Sociology Group