From Circular Systems to Circular Behavioural Regimes: Reframing Circular Economy Transitions

Circular economy research has prioritised technological innovation, business models, and policy frameworks to enable resource efficiency and closed-loop systems. Yet progress toward circularity remains limited, suggesting a persistent misalignment between system design and everyday practice. This perspective argues that circular transitions cannot be understood or achieved without recognising behaviour as a system-level condition rather than an individual outcome. Building on behavioural sustainability research and sustainability transitions theory, it introduces the concept of circular behavioural regimes: stable configurations of routines, norms, incentives, infrastructures, and value systems that reproduce patterns of resource use. It argues that linear and recycling economies persist because they are supported by behavioural regimes that favour convenience, throughput, and disposability. Circular transitions therefore require not only system redesign but also behavioural regime reconfiguration across individual, organisational, and societal levels. By framing friction reduction, capability-building, and social legitimacy as interacting mechanisms of regime change, this perspective positions behavioural sustainability as a foundational condition for circular transformation.