COVID-19, Lifestyle Change, and Municipal Solid Waste: Evidence from 252 Communities’ Littering Records in China

This study investigates the impacts of lifestyle on municipal solid waste (MSW). Although solid waste is increasingly recognized as a serious worldwide environmental concern, whether and how the lifestyle causally affects MSW are unclear. Based on a unique data of daily littering records of 252 communities in Beijing, China, we introduce the shock of COVID-19 lockdown to identify the lifestyle shift and further evaluate its effects on MSW. Our difference-in-differences estimation shows that the total daily MSW decreases by 134.16 kg in a community, and the average weight of MSW per package decreases by 56.8% after the COVID-19 lockdown. We consider a series of alternative explanations, such as MSW hoarding, shifts in littering time, and fear of going out, but none can fully explain our empirical results. We then discuss the effect of lockdown on the reduction of MSW generation because of the strict restriction of consumption. We also conduct various heterogeneity analyses. Our results present clear implications for municipal waste management by highlighting how lifestyle changes affect the generation of MSW.