Unlocking dormant products: Systemic leverage points and strategies for household circularity

Paper in proceeding, 2026

A functioning circular economy relies on households recirculating products once they are no longer needed. However, households often accumulate products in wardrobes, cupboards, and other storage spaces. While contemporary design practices often reinforce this through encouraging new purchases and attachment, unlocking dormant products for reuse emerges as a new challenge for design. This paper draws on a systems analysis of how products move into, around, and sometimes out of the home, based on household interviews and visits. The analysis reveals how products slip out of use and become forgotten as stored mass, requiring significant effort to recirculate. We identify key leverage points where designers, together with circular economy stakeholders, can intervene to support increased product recirculation. Based on workshops with circular designers, we articulate and exemplify a set of design strategies, showing an expanded understanding of design’s role in enabling product circulation within the deeper layers of everyday life.