IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v11y2022i1p5-d722188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Old Habits to New Routines—A Case Study of Food Waste Generation and Reduction in Four Swedish Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Christine Persson Osowski

    (Division of Public Health Sciences, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Box 883, 721 23 Vasteras, Sweden
    Department of Food Studies, Nutrition and Dietetics, Uppsala University, Box 560, 751 22 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Dariusz Osowski

    (Department of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Box 883, 721 23 Vasteras, Sweden)

  • Kristina Johansson

    (Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7032, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Niina Sundin

    (Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7032, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Christopher Malefors

    (Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7032, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Mattias Eriksson

    (Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7032, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden)

Abstract

Public food service organizations are large producers of food waste, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions and the waste of natural resources. The aim of the present article was to gain insight into reasons for food waste and possible solutions for lowering food waste in schools in Sweden. In order to do so, food waste quantification in school canteens in two Swedish municipalities and nine qualitative interviews with key actors were conducted. Both municipalities displayed a high degree of variation in food waste, but the common pattern was that serving waste constituted the largest fraction of food waste, followed by plate waste and storage waste, as well as a gradual decrease in food waste over time. Food waste was mainly a result of old, disadvantageous habits, such as overproduction due to forecasting difficulties, whereas new, better routines such as serving fewer options, better planning, and a less stressful environment are the key to lowering food waste. Because food waste varies from one case to the next, it becomes important to identify and measure the causes of food waste in each school in order to be able to establish tailor-made, conscious, and flexible food waste mitigation routines.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Persson Osowski & Dariusz Osowski & Kristina Johansson & Niina Sundin & Christopher Malefors & Mattias Eriksson, 2022. "From Old Habits to New Routines—A Case Study of Food Waste Generation and Reduction in Four Swedish Schools," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:5-:d:722188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/11/1/5/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/11/1/5/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann C. Wilkie & Ryan E. Graunke & Camilo Cornejo, 2015. "Food Waste Auditing at Three Florida Schools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Markus C. Becker, 2004. "Organizational routines: a review of the literature," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(4), pages 643-678, August.
    3. Martha S. Feldman & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2011. "Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1240-1253, October.
    4. Bartłomiej Gładysz & Aleksander Buczacki & Cecilia Haskins, 2020. "Lean Management Approach to Reduce Waste in HoReCa Food Services," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Markus C. Becker, 2004. "Organizational routines : a review of the literature," Post-Print hal-00279010, HAL.
    6. Luca Falasconi & Matteo Vittuari & Alessandro Politano & Andrea Segrè, 2015. "Food Waste in School Catering: An Italian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-16, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Post-Print halshs-03718851, HAL.
    2. Tiziana Callari & Corinne Bieder & Barry Kirwan, 2019. "What is it like for a middle manager to take safety into account? Practices and challenges," Post-Print hal-01935746, HAL.
    3. Roberto Grandinetti, 2022. "A Routine-Based Theory of Routine Replication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Kathrin Sele & Simon Grand, 2016. "Unpacking the Dynamics of Ecologies of Routines: Mediators and Their Generative Effects in Routine Interactions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 722-738, June.
    5. Rouslan Koumakhov & Adel Daoud, 2017. "Routine and reflexivity: Simonian cognitivism vs practice approach," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(4), pages 727-743.
    6. Dehua Gao & Aliakbar Akbaritabar, 2022. "Using agent-based modeling in routine dynamics research: a quantitative and content analysis of literature," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 521-550, February.
    7. Neil M Kay, 2018. "We need to talk: opposing narratives and conflicting perspectives in the conversation on routines," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(6), pages 943-956.
    8. Paul Spee & Paula Jarzabkowski & Michael Smets, 2016. "The Influence of Routine Interdependence and Skillful Accomplishment on the Coordination of Standardizing and Customizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 759-781, June.
    9. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 1119-1154, September.
    10. Francesco Castellaneta & Maurizio Zollo, 2015. "The Dimensions of Experiential Learning in the Management of Activity Load," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 140-157, February.
    11. Gilstrap, J. Bruce & Hart, Timothy A., 2020. "How employee behaviors effect organizational change and stability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 120-131.
    12. Bianco, Federica & Michelino, Francesca, 2010. "The role of content management systems in publishing firms," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 117-124.
    13. Gavin M Schwarz & Karin Sanders & Dave Bouckenooghe, 2020. "In the driving seat: Executive’s perceived control over environment," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(2), pages 317-342, May.
    14. Alex Coad, 2018. "Firm age: a survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 13-43, January.
    15. Ferry Koster & Mattijs Lambooij, 2018. "Managing Innovations: A Study of the Implementation of Electronic Medical Records in Dutch Hospitals," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(01), pages 1-23, February.
    16. Gopesh Anand & John Gray & Enno Siemsen, 2012. "Decay, Shock, and Renewal: Operational Routines and Process Entropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1700-1716, December.
    17. Andreas Blume & April Mitchell Franco & Paul Heidhues, 2021. "Dynamic coordination via organizational routines," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(4), pages 1001-1047, November.
    18. Nicholas Bloom & Christos Genakos & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2011. "Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp1109, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    19. Muñoz, Félix-Fernando & Encinar, María-Isabel & Cañibano, Carolina, 2011. "On the role of intentionality in evolutionary economic change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 193-203, September.
    20. Verreynne, Martie-Louise & Hine, Damian & Coote, Len & Parker, Rachel, 2016. "Building a scale for dynamic learning capabilities: The role of resources, learning, competitive intent and routine patterning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4287-4303.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:5-:d:722188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.