IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i10p6165-d818934.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of the Number of Hours Spent at Home on the Volume of Municipal Waste Generated: Evidence from Tokyo during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Kentaka Aruga

    (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan)

Abstract

This study explores how changes in hours spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020–February 2022) affected the volume of municipal waste generated by households. Applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to a time series model created to measure the volume of combustible waste, recyclable plastic, plastic bottles, glasses and cans, and used paper, this study finds that an increase in the number of hours spent at home elevated the amount of combustible waste, recyclable plastic bottles, and glass bottles and cans generated. The increase in the volume of waste during the pandemic tended to be related to increased demand for delivery and take-out containers, and the increase in combustible waste was likely caused by a surge in the use of unrecyclable plastic containers. Thus, the results of the study suggest the importance of enhancing the use of recyclable containers and the need for support to develop ways to spread the use of such containers.

Suggested Citation

  • Kentaka Aruga, 2022. "Impact of the Number of Hours Spent at Home on the Volume of Municipal Waste Generated: Evidence from Tokyo during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-10, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:6165-:d:818934
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6165/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6165/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kentaka Aruga & Md. Monirul Islam & Arifa Jannat, 2021. "Does Staying at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic Help Reduce CO 2 Emissions?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    3. Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie & Phebe Asantewaa Owusu, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on waste management," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7951-7960, May.
    4. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    5. Kentaka Aruga, 2021. "Changes in Human Mobility under the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Tokyo Fuel Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Sonia Akter, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 related ‘stay-at-home’ restrictions on food prices in Europe: findings from a preliminary analysis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(4), pages 719-725, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kentaka Aruga & Md. Monirul Islam & Arifa Jannat, 2022. "Effects of the State of Emergency during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tokyo Vegetable Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Kentaka Aruga & Md. Monirul Islam & Arifa Jannat, 2021. "Does Staying at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic Help Reduce CO 2 Emissions?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Karasoy, Alper, 2022. "Is innovative technology a solution to Japan's long-run energy insecurity? Dynamic evidence from the linear and nonlinear methods," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Bruce Morley, 2009. "A Comparison of Two Alternative Monetary Approaches to Exchange Rate Determination over the Long-Run," International Econometric Review (IER), Econometric Research Association, vol. 1(2), pages 63-76, April.
    5. Villanthenkodath, Muhammed Ashiq & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2021. "Does economic growth respond to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh? The implication for environmental sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    6. Bloch, Harry & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Salim, Ruhul, 2015. "Economic growth with coal, oil and renewable energy consumption in China: Prospects for fuel substitution," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 104-115.
    7. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Energy consumption, financial development and economic growth in India: New evidence from a nonlinear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 199-212.
    8. Noraida, A.W. & Abdul-Rahim, A.S. & Othman, Mohd, 2017. "The Impact of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Practices on Primary Timber-Based Production in Peninsular Malaysia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 51(2), pages 143-154.
    9. Georgios Bertsatos & Plutarchos Sakellaris & Mike G. Tsionas, 2022. "Extensions of the Pesaran, Shin and Smith (2001) bounds testing procedure," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 605-634, February.
    10. Md.Yousuf & Raju Ahmed & Nasrin Akther Lubna & Shah Md. Sumon, 2019. "Estimating the Services Sector Impact on Economic Growth of Bangladesh: An Econometric Investigation," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(2), pages 62-72, June.
    11. Nasreen, Samia & Anwar, Sofia & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2017. "Financial stability, energy consumption and environmental quality: Evidence from South Asian economies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1105-1122.
    12. Iza Gigauri & Mirela Panait & Simona Andreea Apostu & Lukman Raimi, 2022. "The Essence of Social Entrepreneurship through a Georgian Lens: Social Entrepreneurs’ Perspectives," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, June.
    13. Muhammad Shafiullah & Ravinthirakumaran Navaratnam, 2016. "Do Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Enjoy Export-Led Growth? A Comparison of Two Small South Asian Economies," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 17(1), pages 114-132, March.
    14. Shuyang Chen, 2021. "The Urbanisation Impacts on the Policy Effects of the Carbon Tax in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-11, June.
    15. Boukraine, Wissem, 2020. "The finance-inequality nexus in the BRICS countries: evidence from an ARDL bound testing approach," MPRA Paper 101976, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Garrod Brian & Almeida António & Machado Luiz, 2023. "Modelling of nonlinear asymmetric effects of changes in tourism on economic growth in an autonomous small-island economy," European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 154-172, December.
    17. Ngoo Yee Ting & Loi Siew Ling, 2011. "Okun’S Law In Malaysia: An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (Ardl) Approach With Hodrick-Prescott (Hp) Filter," Journal of Global Business and Economics, Global Research Agency, vol. 2(1), pages 95-103, January.
    18. Zheng, Li & Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Salem, Sultan & Irfan, Muhammad & Alvarado, Rafael & Lv, Kangjuan, 2022. "How technological innovation and institutional quality affect sectoral energy consumption in Pakistan? Fresh policy insights from novel econometric approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    19. Muhammad Shahbaz & Vassilios G. Papavassiliou & Amine Lahiani & David Roubaud, 2023. "Are we moving towards decarbonisation of the global economy? Lessons from the distant past to the present," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2620-2634, July.
    20. Birendra Bahadur Budha, 2013. "Demand for Money in Nepal: An ARDL Bounds Testing Approach," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Economic Research Department, vol. 25(1), pages 21-36, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:6165-:d:818934. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.