Along with rapid economic growth, increasing urban population, and substantially improved living standards, the total amount of municipal solid waste has increased dramatically in China. In order to answer the specific question of whether regulatory policies and social capital can help relieve the pressure of garbage siege, this paper systematically examines the impact of regulatory policies and social capital on per capita waste generation with a city-level panel data file combined with the Chinese General Social Survey data. The empirical results provide evidence as follows. Firstly, waste charging system and waste source separation policy do not significantly reduce waste generation per capita as expected. Flat-rate waste charging system might even increase waste generation of groups with high generation level. Secondly, social capital significantly and negatively influences per capita waste generation, which keeps constant with employing different measurement indexes, measurement methods and estimation techniques, and taking into account the endogeneity problem of social capital. Thirdly, social capital reduces waste generation by promoting household behavior on waste sorting and source reduction. Finally, among the three social capital components, social trust and social norms have significantly decreased per capita waste generation. Nevertheless, the waste reduction effect of social capital appears to have a fluctuant downward trend as time goes by. This paper provides a unique insight into the policy design on how to promote environmental management transition in China.