Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

Smart waste management: a look on Portugal towards the SDG

Publication . Costa, Madalena; Madureira, Raquel Castro; Ferreira, Célia

In a world in constant change and development, waste management has been seen as an important area and, therefore, a target for investment and environmental concern. Considering smart waste management methods, the goal of this work is to portray some relevant Municipal Portuguese smart waste implementation methods and describe several initiatives using intelligent methods seeking smart city development and towards the sustainable development goals 11.6.1, Municipal Solid Waste Management. Data collection was based on the literary review, using different types of information. The results show the state of the art in the implementation of municipal policies in this area, and the practical difficulties of the process, namely in terms of the necessary resources. Additionally, it was possible to understand the importance of the new methods to encourage a more correct waste management methodology seeking a smart city development and operational measures to reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of waste.

2023Book part

Restricted access

Empowering non-academic staff for the implementation of sustainability in higher education institutions

Publication . Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Mapar, Mahsa; Caeiro, Sandra; Moreno Pires, Sara; Nicolau, Mariana; Madeira, Catarina; Dias, Marta Ferreira; Gomes, Ana Paula; Lopes, Myriam; Nadais, Helena; Malandrakis, Georgios

Sustainability within higher education institutions (HEIs) is a well-established topic in the literature. Many fields of education for sustainable development have been explored, mainly focused on HEI students, as well as on academic staff. The technical, administrative, and management staff, referred to as non-academic staff has not received as much attention as the remaining HEI community, which leaves a gap in the successful implementation of sustainability practices and policies, as they play a vital and central role in the HEIs’ everyday functioning. Hence, the EUSTEPs project launched two sustainability training courses dedicated exclusively to this segment of the university community, aiming to increase their knowledge on facts and tools for the best sustainability transition. The first short-term online training, organized by the University of Aveiro and Universidade Aberta, Portugal, was run in May 2021. The training targeted 27 non-academic staff from different sectors. The second online training course was implemented one year later and involved 17 elements from the previous training. The results showed very high levels of overall satisfaction and full achievement of the participants’ expectations in sustainability issues. The non-academic staff learned and discussed the human–environment relationship, tracked and discussed their personal ecological footprint in the workspace, actively participated on how to run the university ecological footprint calculator, developed within the EUSTEPs project, and felt mobilized to implement actions to reduce their university’s environmental impacts (as well as in their general daily activities). Similar training programs can be used to impower non-academic staff for the implementation of sustainability in other higher education institutions, hence contributing to a successful integrated sustainability approach for the whole school.

2023-10-12Journal article

Open access

Funding agency

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Funding programme

6817 - DCRRNI ID

Funding Award Number

UIDP/04058/2020