The Impact of Digital Literacy on Farmers’ Pesticide Packaging Waste Recycling Behavior

Haixin Tao, Liming Fang (), Jiaying Lu and Xuezhu Shi
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Haixin Tao: School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100020, China
Liming Fang: School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100020, China
Jiaying Lu: School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100020, China
Xuezhu Shi: School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100020, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: The increasingly severe issue of pesticide packaging waste (PPW) pollution poses a significant threat to human health and sustainable agricultural development. Encouraging farmers to recycle PPW is critical to addressing the “tragedy of the commons” problem in rural areas. Using data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS), this paper examines the impact of digital literacy on farmers’ PPW recycling behavior. The results indicate that (1) a one-unit increase in digital literacy raises the likelihood of farmers recycling PPW by 20.1%. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that subjective cognition, information transmission, and social network are the key channels through which digital literacy affects farmers’ PPW recycling behavior. (3) After conducting multiple robustness tests—including Propensity Score Matching (PSM), instrumental variable methods, alternative weighting approaches for digital literacy, and different model specifications and samples—the findings remain robust. Based on these results, we propose the following policy recommendations: improve digital infrastructure in rural areas; enhance farmers’ digital literacy; establish incentive mechanisms; encourage village self-governance; and reinforce social oversight.

Keywords: digital literacy; pesticide packaging waste; recycling behavior; subjective cognition; information transmission; social network; farmers; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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