Civilisation changes affect the attitudes and behaviour of consumers related to food waste. Most food is wasted by households. The purpose of this study was to assess the behaviour and attitudes of Polish students related to food waste and to determine the amount and type of food waste, as well as to indicate the causes of this problem. The analysis of attitudes and behaviours of individual groups of society directs actions to be taken in order to reduce food waste. For 14 days, a questionnaire was completed by Polish students from two universities. It concerned the frequency of throwing away food products and the type and amount of wasted products, as well as the reasons for throwing food away and the ways of counteracting this situation. Descriptive statistics, a Pareto–Lorenz analysis and a cluster analysis were used to analyse the obtained data. In this study, the level of food waste by Polish students was determined, and the study group was segmented into three clusters. The three clusters defining the attitudes of Polish students were (1) “aware students”, (2) “disengaged students” and (3) “aware but disengaged”. The largest number of respondents were classified into cluster 2. Polish students are aware of the problems of food waste, but do not contribute to reducing it. In most cases, students’ behaviour was not differentiated by socio-demographic characteristics.

Improving company’s environmental performance through Green Lean approach

Objective: To compare and assess the behaviours of students as consumers of food, cosmetics and clothing in order to understand attitudes to sustainability.Research Design & Methods: A survey was conducted in June 2022 using an online questionnaire. The link to the questionnaire was sent to a sample of n = 800 students studying in the Tricity area (Poland). 295 students completed the survey, representing a return rate of 36.9%. The responses received were analysed and conclusions were drawn.Findings: The study shows that the young consumers take sustainable criteria into consideration in their purchasing decisions depending on the particular products. They follow sustainable aspects to the greatest extent in shopping for food, and to the least extent in the case of clothes. In the case of food, issues such as natural ingredients, environmentally friendly packaging, and egg labelling proved to be relatively important. With cosmetics, natural ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging were relatively important, and to a lesser extent, that cosmetics have not been tested on animals. In the case of clothing, sustainable issues proved to be the least important, though environmentally friendly packaging was sometime considered.Implications / Recommendations: The consumers surveyed are insufficiently influenced by questions of sustainability in their consumer behaviours. This may prompt questions on the involvement of companies in introducing pro-ecological and pro-social changes to products and how they are produced, and consequently influence the pace and degree to which sustainable production and consumption are being brought about.Contribution: The article contributes to the literature on the attitude of young consumers to sustainable development. It indicates areas that should be improved with regards to the behaviour of students when making purchasing decisions.

Every organization uses the various resources to achieve its aim. Among them are those that are taken from the environment, for example, energy carriers, or water. As a result of organization’s activity, some pollution is emitted to the water and atmosphere. In Poland at the moment it is seen that there is high growth rate in services in the field of institutional food that is legally obliged by polish law to implement and maintain institutional food safety system (HACCP – Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). The organizations that implement HACCP cause as well the environmental loads that have negative impact on environment. Concerning above mentioned issue, the article undertakes a study on the answer of the question, which environmental aspect closely connected with the maintenance of the HACCP system in an institutional food service unit, has the largest impact on the pollution of the environment. The weighted Cause and Effect Ishikawa Diagram is used as a research tool to achieve this target. Its modification that is presented in scientific literature, enables to display next to qualitative information also quantitative one. In accordance with this method “critical paths” are indicated to the most important causes that create given effect. As an effect in this article is defined – generating of environmental loads on the environment by institutional food service unit. While causes are defined as environmental aspects, characterize this organizational part of the unit that is covered by institutional food safety system. One of them is: water consumption, municipal wastes generation, energy carriers consumption: natural gas and electric energy, inorganic waste generation, cleaning supply measures consumption, the consumption of the office materials and exploitation materials to office equipment. The analysis of the quantity of particular factors that create environmental aspects show which environmental aspects have the largest impact on environment and cause its pollution. That are: water consumption, cleaning supply measures consumption and electric energy consumption.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate what dimensions constitute the culture of sustainability of a modern university, recognize and discuss research on the culture of sustainability of universities (CoSoU) and identify the basic dimensions that contribute to this culture. Design/methodology/approach: We used a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA method (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses), followed by synthesis, conceptual work and logical reasoning. Findings: We observed the most significant increase in articles on the topic under study since 2015, with researchers from the United States dominating, thus confirming the research gap concerning European countries. Our research indicates the dominance of four CoSoU dimensions, i.e. leadership, engagement, communication and relations with stakeholders. We also proposed the model structure of the CoSoU dimensions and its definition. Research limitations/implications: The research covered open-access texts. We limited it to the English language and full-text studies and excluded monographs or doctoral dissertations. This certainly did not allow us to investigate the problem holistically. Readers may consider the article an original implication to science, allowing it to fit into the existing research gap. We propose a set of important dimensions that constitute the university’s culture of sustainable development. We place equal importance on the definitions of the analyzed dimensions of sustainability culture and the CoSoU definition. Practical implications: Leaders at universities, e.g. rectors and deans, can consider the identified dimensions and progressively provide them as conditions conducive to achieving sustainable development goals. The indicated CoSoU dimensions can be the subject of training for employees and university authorities. Social implications: The issue of organizational culture as such focuses primarily on shaping social behavior, in this case, the academic community. Originality/value: The novelty of the article lies in addressing the topic of the culture of sustainability concerning universities and filling the research gap. A set of CoSoU dimensions, a definition of CoSoU and a model construct of CoSoU also constitute original proposals.