Reflections on sustainable consumption in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused severe diseases and deaths around the world, impacts not only health, but also daily lives, economies, and social systems. It is observed that consumers' purchasing patterns and preferences have changed significantly along with the new normal brought by the pandemic. For example, tons of plastic waste each day caused by disposable masks used to prevent the spread of viruses and the dramatic increase in disposable plastic tableware waste caused by the increasing number of food deliveries and takeaway meals as a result of measures such as social distancing and quarantine lead to significant environmental concerns. Furthermore, the additional packaging waste generated by e-commerce trades, which increases incrementally every day, is also an important source of environmental concerns. Although a growing number of consumers are interested in preserving the environment and participating more actively in sustainable consumption around the world, the changes caused by COVID-19 in their lives deeply affect sustainable consumption behaviors. Therefore, the discussion of how sustainable consumption behaviors of consumers are affected during the pandemic may contribute to the development of new strategies in this field. From this point of view, the effects of environmental concerns and sensitivity on sustainable consumption were first discussed from different aspects in this section. Then, the reflection of the pandemic on consumer behaviors was analyzed within a general framework. Finally, how the pandemic influenced the tendency toward sustainability was revealed.