Often people make the most decisions on consumption and waste is during times of significant change. For example, these changes occur when moving home, becoming a parent, changing jobs, retiring, starting again, downsizing, caring for others, or adjusting to a new household routine.
These moments matter. They disrupt the habits that usually shape everyday consumption. When routines are unsettled, people often reassess what they need, how they spend, what they value, and which services they rely on. For circular economy communication, this creates an important opportunity: to meet people at the point where new decisions are already being made.
But that opportunity is also complex. Life transitions are not simple “windows” where people are waiting to be persuaded. They can be stressful, expensive and emotional, leaving people constrained by time, infrastructure, care responsibilities, health, or money. Therefore, communicating circular economy practices during these moments requires more than a well-timed message. It requires empathy, practical relevance, and systems that make circular choices possible.
From life stages to moments of change
Understanding behaviours often involves segmenting people by age or demographic profile: students, young families, mid-life households, retirees. A life-event and transition approach is different, as it focuses on the moments when routines change.
Researchers have described life events as periods of disruption, habit discontinuity, or “moments of change”. When the cues that sustain existing habits are interrupted, people may become more open to new information and new behaviours (Verplanken & Whitmarsh, 2021; Whitmarsh et al., 2025). From a circular economy perspective, this is where practices such as repair, reuse, sharing, renting, buying second-hand, maintaining products, or avoiding unnecessary purchases may become more visible.
For example, moving home can alter transport patterns, furniture needs, energy use, food shopping, and local service use. Becoming a parent can reshape priorities around safety, cost, convenience, identity, and the future. Retirement can change time use, income, mobility, repair practices, social networks, and household consumption. A new job can affect commuting, clothing, meals, digital devices, and daily schedules.
The key word is ‘may’. A life transition can make change more possible, but it does not determine the direction of that change.
Why timing matters
One of the clearest insights from the evidence is that timing matters. Many major life events include a preparation phase. Before a baby arrives, before a move is complete, before retirement begins, before a new job starts, people often search for information, compare options, make purchases, and imagine what their new life will look like.
This anticipatory period can shape consumption patterns long before the event itself becomes visible. A household may decide whether to buy new furniture or look for second-hand options before moving. New parents may make decisions about buggies, clothing, nappies, toys, and household equipment before the baby arrives. Someone retiring may begin to think about home improvements, hobbies, travel, volunteering, or downsizing before leaving work.
For circular economy communication, this means that campaigns should not only respond after a transition has happened. They should engage upstream, while choices are still being formed. Some authors describe life transitions as moments of ‘consumption coping’, where people actively seek information and guidance as they adjust to new roles and circumstances (Yap and Kapitan, 2017).
Habit-discontinuity research suggests that interventions delivered soon after a major context change can be more effective than those delivered later, once new habits have begun to solidify (Verplanken & Whitmarsh, 2021; Whitmarsh, Poortinga, & Capstick, 2021).
Making circular choices visible during transition
One of the most useful roles of communication is to make connections visible. People may not recognise that a life event is changing their consumption patterns. They may simply feel that they are “getting organised”, “starting a new chapter”, or “buying what they need”.
This creates an opportunity for circular economy communication to reframe the moment without overcomplicating it. Retirement can become a moment to repair, maintain, pass on skills, volunteer, or participate in local reuse networks, for example.
The aim is to show how circular choices can support the priorities people already have during transition: saving money, reducing clutter, creating a home, caring for family, managing time, finding reliable services, and building new routines.
This is where communication can help connect personal change to systems change. It can show how multiple individual decisions about life events sit within wider systems of repair, reuse, sharing, maintenance, product life extension, and waste prevention.
Insights like these allow us to tailor circular communications to key moments, frames and places to be as effective as possible at influencing consumption behaviours.
