Resumo

Circular economy is seen as a solution to the food crisis and environmental pollution. It also contributes to a growing awareness of social responsibility and sustainability, which increases the interest in organic products. The demand for organic products has increased in Brazil and worldwide every year, motivated by people's concerns about eating healthier food, caring for the environment, and the safety and quality of products.

What consumers believe to be the incentives and barriers to use organic products while supporting circularity? This study seeks to identify what consumers believe to be the incentives and barriers to use organic products while supporting circularity.

The cultivation of organic products is part of the Circular Economy (CE) context meeting the principles on which CE is based (ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION, 2019). CE seems to be a promising concept as it has attracted the business community to sustainable development work (KORHONEN, HONKASALO & SEPPÄLÄ, 2018). Thus, the concept of EC has been gaining strength to move towards sustainable, low-carbon, resource-efficient and competitive economies (GARCÍA-QUEVEDO, JOVÉ-LLOPIS & MARTÍNEZ-ROS, 2020), meeting Agenda 2030.

Twelve consumers of organic products were interviewed using in-depth online interviews for this qualitative analysis. The data were analyzed by content analysis from the perspective of the theoretical basis.

The results show the interviewees level of organic consumption and their degree of commitment to the disposal process. The study also identifies the drivers and barriers to the CE and evidences obtained from the data collected. In addition, drivers were grouped into four categories (suppliers of organic products, markets for organic products, consumers of organic products and the government) and barriers were grouped into two categories (suppliers of organic products and consumers of organic products).

Consumers identified several drivers from suppliers and farmers’ markets that encouraged them to be part of EC, such as less packaging at farmers’ markets, the opportunity to compost at home and government policies that support waste sorting for recycling. However, the failure of suppliers to provide initiatives to reuse packaging or bags, the restrictions on home composting, the lack of room to separate and dispose of recyclable garbage more efficiently, and not being able to return packaging to suppliers due to the risk of coronavirus contamination, were all identified as barriers to CE.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2019). Cities and Circular Economy for Food. Available on https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/insight/CCEFF_Full-report_May-2019_Web.pdf. Accessed on 12 Sep 2020. García‐Quevedo, J., Jové‐Llopis, E., & Martínez‐Ros, E. (2020). Barriers to the circular economy in European small and medium‐sized firms. Business Strategy and the Environment. Korhonen, J., Honkasalo, A., & Seppälä, J. (2018). Circular economy: the concept and its limitations. Ecological economics, 143, 37-46.