TY - JOUR
T1 - Building and managing sustainable schools
T2 - the case of food waste
AU - Derqui, Belén
AU - Grimaldi, Didier
AU - Fernandez, Vicenc
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2020/1/10
Y1 - 2020/1/10
N2 - The global sustainability imperative requires dealing with food waste. This study explores how the management of school canteens can help school leaders on their path towards building more sustainable institutions. Despite scholars have largely shown the magnitude of food waste generated at school canteens, this paper shows that headteachers mistakenly perceive their canteens to be efficient in adjusting the amount cooked and that their pupils leave little plate waste. Data were collected through a survey among 420 school headteachers and a clustering analysis based on the schools’ sustainability profile was applied. Results show that schools can be categorized in 4 clusters: Activists, Environmentalists, Socials, and Laggards. A relevant contribution of this paper is that even in those clusters largely engaged in sustainability issues, canteen food waste reduction initiatives are rarely applied. Increasing school management's visibility and awareness on the issue of food waste would result in more sustainable educational institutions. Another conclusion of the study is that although school sustainability is related to environmental rather than social initiatives, schools can follow two different paths on their way towards sustainability: either the social or environmental avenues.
AB - The global sustainability imperative requires dealing with food waste. This study explores how the management of school canteens can help school leaders on their path towards building more sustainable institutions. Despite scholars have largely shown the magnitude of food waste generated at school canteens, this paper shows that headteachers mistakenly perceive their canteens to be efficient in adjusting the amount cooked and that their pupils leave little plate waste. Data were collected through a survey among 420 school headteachers and a clustering analysis based on the schools’ sustainability profile was applied. Results show that schools can be categorized in 4 clusters: Activists, Environmentalists, Socials, and Laggards. A relevant contribution of this paper is that even in those clusters largely engaged in sustainability issues, canteen food waste reduction initiatives are rarely applied. Increasing school management's visibility and awareness on the issue of food waste would result in more sustainable educational institutions. Another conclusion of the study is that although school sustainability is related to environmental rather than social initiatives, schools can follow two different paths on their way towards sustainability: either the social or environmental avenues.
KW - Canteen Management
KW - Education for Sustainable Development
KW - Food Waste
KW - School Clustering
KW - Sustainable Schools
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072713132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=pure_univeritat_ramon_llull&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000498805600022&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118533
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118533
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85072713132
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 243
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 118533
ER -