CARE

Circular Consumption Activities to Transform Households Toward Material Efficiency

The shirt that stays in the wardrobe, unworn but not quite ready to leave. The vegetables waiting at the back of the fridge. And the leftovers we meant to turn into one more meal. These everyday moments may seem small and private. Yet they are part of one of Europe’s biggest opportunities for circular change: making better use of the food and clothes already in our homes.

According to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, households worldwide are responsible for around 631 million tonnes of food waste every year. In Europe, textiles present another significant area of concern. The European Environment Agency estimates that the EU generated 6.95 million tonnes of textile waste in 2020 — equivalent to around 16 kilogrammes per person.

The CARE (Circular Consumption Activities to Transform Households towards Material Efficiency) project turns the challenge of reducing waste into a practical opportunity. This Horizon Europe project explores ways in which households can reduce food waste, extend the lifespan of clothing, and incorporate circular practices into their daily lives.

Over 100 households across five European countries – Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Estonia – are taking part in CARE. The project’s circular pilots are taking place in Tampere, Asker, Gothenburg, Berlin and Lääne-Harju, all of which are linked to the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative. CARE co-creates and tests practical ways to support circular food and clothing practices together with households, local communities, municipalities, NGOs, researchers and circular economy experts.

CARE’s approach goes beyond awareness-raising by examining people’s actual practices: how they plan meals, shop for food, store it, cook with it, deal with leftovers, wash clothes, repair garments, care for textiles, and decide what to keep, buy, or pass on. This practical approach helps to identify solutions that can be incorporated into real routines, social contexts and local infrastructures.

The main goal of CARE is to empower households to become circular model households for food and clothing, while generating insights, methods and tools that can support wider uptake beyond the pilot locations. The project provides people with customised, cost-free advisory services, local pilot activities and practical resources to help them discover how simple, inclusive and rewarding circular living can be, and how similar approaches can be adopted by other cities, regions and organisations.

The scientific approach behind CARE combines co-creation with systematic evaluation. The project uses methods such as Life Cycle Assessment and Product Environmental Footprinting to assess the environmental impacts of household-level changes. It also looks at material efficiency, sustainable well-being and living conditions. This allows CARE to explore not only whether circular practices work, but also how they affect everyday life and how they can be adapted for different cities, regions and communities.

The role of CSCP in CARE

The CSCP leads CARE’s communication, dissemination and exploitation activities at European level. In practice, this means applying the CSCP’s expertise in Communication & Design, Multi-stakeholder Engagements & Panels, and Trainings & Capacity Building to help transform research and pilot experiences into accessible formats for different audiences, ranging from households and local communities to municipalities, NGOs, researchers, policymakers, and members of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative.

This work includes the development of the project’s communication strategy, visual identity, key messages, storytelling formats, website and social media content, explainer videos and stakeholder engagement formats. The CSCP also supports pilot partners in communicating with households and local communities in a positive, practical and inclusive way. As the project progresses, this communication and dissemination work will feed into lasting resources such as the CARE Circular Cookbook, the CARE Circular Clothing Magazine, the CARE Toolbox and the Circular Academy, which are designed to support the uptake of CARE’s learnings beyond the participating households.

This matters because the circular transformation process requires more than just good information. People need tools, stories, spaces and support to make new practices feel achievable. CARE’s explainer videos, for example, demonstrate how adopting circular food and clothing habits can become part of daily life.

First CARE resources and outputs are available

Several first CARE resources and outputs are now available:

• The Communication and Dissemination Strategy sets out CARE’s communication and dissemination objectives, target audiences, key messages, channels, visual identity and monitoring approach. It provides the framework for communicating CARE’s activities and results in a consistent and accessible way across Europe.
• The CARE Exploitation Strategy explains how CARE’s key results can be transformed into practical impact beyond the project itself. It outlines key exploitable results, target audiences, exploitation pathways and the role of networks such as the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative in supporting the uptake of CARE tools and methods.
• CARE has produced two explainer videos: one focusing on circular food practices and one on circular clothing practices. The videos were developed to inspire households, support pilot recruitment and show how circular actions can become part of everyday life.
• CARE has developed two infographics (summarised in one document) that bring together the findings of research into behaviour change towards circularity in food and clothing. They demonstrate that changing everyday practices, rather than merely individual attitudes, is essential for reducing food waste and encouraging more sustainable clothing consumption.

As the project progresses, the CSCP will help translate CARE’s learnings into resources that can be used beyond the five locations. These include the CARE Circular Academy, the CARE Toolbox including the CARE Circular Cookbook and the CARE Circular Clothing Magazine. Together, these outputs will support other cities, regions and organisations in adapting CARE’s approaches to their own contexts.

By the end of the project, CARE will not only have helped more than 100 participating households in making the transition towards more sustainable lifestyles. It will also have translated the key learnings from the process into easy-to-use tools for other cities and regions, enabling a wave of circular households to develop across Europe.

The CARE project runs from January 2024 until December 2027. Eleven organisations are part of the project consortium, which is led by Tampere University, Finland. CARE is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme.

For all project resources, publications and engagement materials, please visit circularhouseholds.eu.