One of CircleUp’s core ambitions is to move the circular economy from policy frameworks and strategies into everyday household practices. Deliverable 4.3 represents an important step in this journey by documenting how community-based engagement, behavioural approaches, and local partnerships can translate circular principles into real, lived experiences for citizens.

Rather than focusing on theory alone, this deliverable captures how circular living is practised, communicated, and reinforced on the ground across different local contexts and social settings.

What is Deliverable 4.3?

Deliverable 4.3 documents the design, implementation, and early outcomes of CircleUp’s community-facing activities, with a particular emphasis on:

• Engaging citizens in low-threshold, everyday circular actions
• Supporting behaviour change through hands-on, social, and place-based interventions
• Strengthening links between households, local initiatives, and circular service providers
• Reinforcing circular identity through storytelling, creativity, and shared experiences

The deliverable draws on experiences from CircleUp’s pilot communities and complements other project outputs by focusing specifically on community interaction and local embedding, rather than digital tools or measurement alone.

How communities are engaged in practice

A central message of D4.3 is that circular behaviour change is most effective when it is social, tangible, and locally relevant.

The deliverable documents a wide range of engagement formats, including:

• Presence at local markets, libraries, and seasonal community events
• Creative, hands-on activities such as DIY reuse workshops and repair-inspired demonstrations
• Informal conversations that link everyday objects to their hidden environmental impacts
• Small quizzes and interactive elements that challenge assumptions about consumption and waste

These activities allow citizens to encounter circular economy concepts in familiar settings, lowering barriers to participation and making sustainability feel approachable rather than prescriptive. Deliverable 4.3 is strongly informed by behavioural science, particularly the understanding that awareness alone does not lead to sustained change. Key behavioural insights highlighted include:

• People are more likely to engage when actions are practical, achievable, and immediately relevant
• Social interaction and peer learning help normalise circular behaviours
• Storytelling and shared experiences support the development of a “Circular Citizen” identity
• Trust and credibility are strengthened when initiatives are embedded in existing community structures

The deliverable shows how these insights are operationalised through CircleUp’s activities, ensuring alignment with the project’s broader behavioural framework.

The role of local changemakers

An important contribution of D4.3 is its recognition of local actors as drivers of circular transformation.

The deliverable highlights collaboration with:

• Second-hand shops and reuse initiatives
• Repair cafés and volunteer-led repair movements
• Community groups organising clean-ups and sharing activities

These actors already embody circular practices and act as trusted intermediaries between the project and citizens. CircleUp’s approach builds on this existing energy rather than replacing it, strengthening the foundations for long-term impact beyond the project lifetime.

Why Deliverable D4.3 matters for scaling circular living

Deliverable D4.3 provides evidence that community-based approaches are not an “add-on” but a core component of effective circular economy interventions at the household level.

The findings are directly relevant for:

• Scaling CircleUp’s intervention package to new communities
• Informing municipalities and practitioners designing local circular initiatives
• Supporting EU ambitions on waste prevention, citizen engagement, and sustainable consumption
• Complementing digital tools with human-centred, place-based engagement

In short, the deliverable shows that circular living becomes real when people can see it, touch it, discuss it, and practice it together.

Deliverable D4.3 was developed by Beatrice Beitz, Esther Trost, Wolfgang Irrek, Rachel Burns, Mark Watson, and Sari Verachtert , drawing on contributions from local teams working directly with communities in the pilot regions. As CircleUp continues, insights from Deliverable D4.3 will inform both future project activities and broader discussions on how Europe can support sustainable lifestyles at scale, starting from the places where people live their everyday lives.

Link to the Deliverable - https://zenodo.org/records/17716976

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