Bridging the intergenerational gap: boosting recycling behavior and policy support through eliciting concerns for future others

Abstract Pro-environmental behavior, including waste sorting and recycling, involves a combination of future-oriented (futureness) and other-oriented (otherness) attributes. Inspired by the perspective of intergenerational choice, this work explores whether eliciting concerns for future others could increase public support for recycling policy and recycling behavior. Study 1 consisted of an online random controlled trial and a laboratory experiment. In Study 1A ( N = 400), future other-concern was primed using a static text manipulation, whereas in Study 1B ( N = 192), a dynamic virtual manipulation was employed. The results showed that people in the conditions that elicited future other-concern reported greater household recycling intentions and more actual recycling behavior than those in the control conditions. Study 2A ( N = 467) and Study 2B ( N = 600) generalized this effect on the acceptance of the ‘Certain Time Certain Place’ waste sorting policy in China. Consistent with the intergenerational choice model, envisioning the future of subsequent generations is more impactful in gaining policy approval than merely envisioning a future time. These findings provide a new method for promoting public policy approval and recycling behavior, suggesting that people could become environmentally friendly when they are guided to consider future others.