The circular economy (CE) transition in consumer durables like electronics, furniture, and automobiles requires overcoming multiple implementation barriers. While CE strategies such as reduce, reuse, remanufacture, and recycle show environmental and economic benefits, their adoption remains limited. This paper presents a systematic literature review of how product designers identify and overcome technical, economic, and user experience (UX) barriers when designing CE Product-Service Systems (CE-PSS). Using the Scopus database, we searched "circular economy" AND design AND (guidelines OR method* OR framework) in English, yielding 4,096 results. After rigorous screening focused on explicit product design for CE, excluding architectural products, fashion, and circular materials development, 33 relevant papers were analysed. The review examined three key research questions addressing technical, economic, and UX barriers in CE-PSS design. Findings reveal significant disparities in research attention across barrier types. Technical barriers are extensively studied with well-established tools, including AI, Multi-Objective Optimisation, lifecycle assessment frameworks, and specific solutions like modularity, repairability, and bio-inspired design. Economic barriers have received moderate attention through structured frameworks, decision-making tools, and business model simulations supporting early-stage planning and value creation. However, only three papers addressed UX barriers, despite their critical role in adoption success. The UX challenges mentioned in the literature include consumer acceptance of access-based models versus ownership, stigma associated with secondhand products, and challenges motivating product returns. Provider-side concerns involve appropriate data visualization for stakeholders like refurbishers and recyclers. Current approaches for design rely heavily on generalized heuristic tools that overlook emotional, cultural, and behavioural complexities shaping users’ interactions with circular systems. This systematic review identifies that while technical and economic dimensions have comparable depth and validated frameworks, the UX dimension lacks systematic investigation, potentially explaining low adoption rates of circular solutions and highlighting the need for user-centred design approaches in CE transitions.
Sarkar et al. (Thu,) studied this question.