More than three in four Australians are concerned about the rising cost of living, CommBank’s latest Consumer Insights Report found, which is driving greater support for businesses that participate in the circular economy.
Matched with extreme weather events and supply chain disruption, this has brought waste and consumption into sharper focus for Australians, with 85% of consumers concerned about the issue.
In particular, the report found that Australian households are sitting on an enormous amount of unused products. In the case of clothing, 38 percent of Australians said they had more than 10 items unused in the past 12 months, equivalent to at least 146 million unused items.
Commonwealth Bank's executive manager, consumer and diversified industries, Jerry Macey, said the millions of unused products gathering dust in households become a major source of value to consumers and the economy alike in a circular model.
“Proactive initiatives are a powerful way to create engagement and loyalty with consumers who expect circularity and prefer to shop with businesses that support it,” Macey said.
“People are concerned about the amount of waste and consumption in society, but as more effort, planning and costs are involved, participation begins to decline. Consumers want businesses to make it easier and more convenient to take part.”
The report also revealed around nine in 10 consumers regularly utilise reusable shopping bags, and 53 per cent saying they regularly buy higher quality products that last.
Almost one in three say they buy second-hand goods instead of new ones (32%) and choose brands with waste reduction policies (31%).
Initiatives that allow donations were the most in-demand (88%), followed by buyback and resale programs (84%) and business-led recycling programs (83%).
Circular Australia CEO Lisa McLean said Australia could grow local and national economies in a resource and carbon-constrained future through the circular economic framework.
"By decoupling economic growth from the consumption of finite resources, the circular economy provides the sustainable framework we need to build the jobs and industries of the future,” McLean said.
“There are big rewards for those organisations making the circular transition. It's a $2 trillion economic opportunity for Australia."
CommBank Consumer Insights is an exclusive, wide-ranging analysis of the Australian consume. This edition is based on an online quantitative survey conducted by ACA Research on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank.
The survey was conducted in July and August 2022 and was completed by 5,633 consumers of goods and services.