Background: Common solutions for addressing plastic pollution include legislation, infrastructure improvements, and community- or contractor-led litter removal. One potential area of growth is the development of technologies designed to either prevent plastic entering the natural environment or facilitate its removal. Technologies may include waste collectors (e.g. seabins and 'waste sharks' that collect rubbish from the water that passes through them). While the impact of such technologies on marine environments remains unclear, so too does the potential impact of these technologies on human attitudes and behaviours around the use and disposal of plastic. Emerging research in the broader environmental literature suggest that an overly optimistic view of successful outcomes associated with technology (a term we call "techno-optimism") can lessen people's intentions to undertake pro-environmental behavioural adaptations.


Purpose: This research aims to explore the construct of techno-optimism further by developing and testing a techno-optimism scale focused on plastic pollution. We explored whether techno-optimism exists around the subject of plastic pollution, the extent to which it influences self-reported behaviours, and how it relates to other determinants of behaviour (expanding on the Value Belief Norm Theory)


Method: Using an online survey, we were able to examine techno-optimism in both a UK sample (n = 1006) and a French sample (n = 630).


Findings and conclusion: These findings are crucial, as they will inform practice, particularly with regard to message framing, e.g., in campaigns when introducing new technologies which aim to reduce plastic pollution, so as to not undermine efforts to effect behaviour change.