Effects of singe-person household ratio in the entire household on the municipal solid waste in Korea

Abstract

This study was undertaken to identify the effects of single-person household on municipal solid waste to find out specific and accurate causes and to improve waste management. Using the "Census of Waste" of the Ministry of Environment and the "Census of Population" of the National Statistical Office in 2010-2016, this study analyzed the correlation between single-person household ratio in the entire household and municipal solid waste generation in terms of material characteristics and places of occurrence. The single household has a slightly negative correlation to municipal solid waste, this is because the effects on the gender and age of single households were different. the effects of gender are a generally similar direction to waste in terms of the youth and elderly. In the case of the middle-aged group, however, the effects are literally different. The middle-aged male's single-person household was a strong positive correlation between household waste, and food and plastic waste in all workplaces, whereas the female's group has no significant correlation with food and plastic waste. This paper shows that the youth and elderly generally have a negative correlation to MSW generation whereas the middle-aged have a positive generation in ages, also, the male has a positive correlation with food and plastic waste while the female has a negative correlation with solid and food waste. This paper is said that gender and age are an essential consideration when comparing the effect of single households, furthermore, the act of reducing waste should be considered each condition in a single-person household.