Interventions for Circular Consumption: A Review of Food Waste and Clothing Consumption Studies with Insights From Social Practice Theory

Shifting everyday consumption from linear to circular is a key sustainability challenge, and interventions targeting households and consumers are increasingly promoted as a means to support this transition. However, much remains unclear about the theoretical assumptions that underpin such interventions and how these shape their design and outcomes. This article presents a systematic literature review of interventions aimed at changing everyday consumption towards circularity in two high-impact domains: food waste and clothing consumption. After a screening process, 84 peer-reviewed intervention studies were analysed. The findings show that most interventions draw on behaviourist approaches, while the use of social practice theory remains limited. In the second stage of the analysis, focus was put on the subset of practice-theoretical intervention studies (n = 5) to examine how they conceptualise practice change. As a result, we provide a refined categorisation of practice-theoretical intervention strategies. The article contributes by synthesising intervention research across two circular consumption domains and by advancing conceptual tools for analysing and designing practice-theoretical interventions, with implications for future research, policy, and practice.