Comparative Analysis of the Environmental Performance …
719
cial (Wang et al. 2013; Sáenz and Benayas 2011) and where there are no standard
indicators of environmental performance at HEIs.
The Latin American Forum of Universities and Sustainability (ARIUSA 2013)
proposed steps to follow in the construction of sustainability indicators at universities to evaluate the functioning of the existing experiences. In the same line of work,
in Spain, indicators were defined to evaluate the contribution of HEIs to sustainability (CADEP-CRUE 2011). Considering that the indicators should be adapted to
the particular conditions of the region where each HEI is located, the RISU project
(ARIUSA 2014) defined indicators for the evaluation of sustainability policies at
HEIs, but did not define indicators related to the functioning, effectiveness or evaluation of these policies. This exposes the lack of studies regarding the application of
systems to measure the performance and monitoring of SWMPs (Karatzoglou 2013).
Based on the above, this chapter intends to make a contribution to address the challenges concerning the monitoring of SWMPs within HEIs through the case study of
four Latin American universities. The study focuses on the experience developed at
the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS), Buenos Aires, Argentina,
where a SWMP that was developed on the basis of diagnoses with studies of waste
characterization (Galván and Bielsa 2012) was implemented in 2013, and monitored
during 2014 and 2015. Results of this monitoring showed that the separation efficiency at the origin of the waste decreased from year to year (Faitani 2017). These
results motivated us to deepen our studies on the subject of the sustainability of university campuses by comparing the sustainability of four universities of the region.
In the following sections, we present the methodology used to carry out this study,
compare the SWMP applied at the UNGS with similar initiatives developed in other
Latin American universities (considering three stages as units of analysis, namely
development, implementation and monitoring of the SWMP), and estimate indicators
that contribute to the institution’s environmental performance (Faitani 2017).
2 Methodology
We adopted a case study strategy and, by means of indicators, analyzed the environmental performance of universities with respect to the management of urban solid
waste. The case study strategy allows examining and understanding contemporary
events, especially for emerging issues (Yin 2005), such as the implementation of
SWMPs in LAC (Sáenz 2014; Sáenz and Benayas 2011). The protocol for the case
study used here is presented in Table 1 and was adapted from Jabbour et al. (2013).
Although the study was carried out in seven university campuses, only four campuses—where full and validated information was available—were selected for this
work.
The following requirements were verified in each of these campuses: (i) that
they apply environmental management programs that include a SWMP; (ii) that they
maintain an active line of work; (iii) that they represent different regions of LAC; (iv)
that they are part of university networks; and (v) that their sustainable development
719
cial (Wang et al. 2013; Sáenz and Benayas 2011) and where there are no standard
indicators of environmental performance at HEIs.
The Latin American Forum of Universities and Sustainability (ARIUSA 2013)
proposed steps to follow in the construction of sustainability indicators at universities to evaluate the functioning of the existing experiences. In the same line of work,
in Spain, indicators were defined to evaluate the contribution of HEIs to sustainability (CADEP-CRUE 2011). Considering that the indicators should be adapted to
the particular conditions of the region where each HEI is located, the RISU project
(ARIUSA 2014) defined indicators for the evaluation of sustainability policies at
HEIs, but did not define indicators related to the functioning, effectiveness or evaluation of these policies. This exposes the lack of studies regarding the application of
systems to measure the performance and monitoring of SWMPs (Karatzoglou 2013).
Based on the above, this chapter intends to make a contribution to address the challenges concerning the monitoring of SWMPs within HEIs through the case study of
four Latin American universities. The study focuses on the experience developed at
the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS), Buenos Aires, Argentina,
where a SWMP that was developed on the basis of diagnoses with studies of waste
characterization (Galván and Bielsa 2012) was implemented in 2013, and monitored
during 2014 and 2015. Results of this monitoring showed that the separation efficiency at the origin of the waste decreased from year to year (Faitani 2017). These
results motivated us to deepen our studies on the subject of the sustainability of university campuses by comparing the sustainability of four universities of the region.
In the following sections, we present the methodology used to carry out this study,
compare the SWMP applied at the UNGS with similar initiatives developed in other
Latin American universities (considering three stages as units of analysis, namely
development, implementation and monitoring of the SWMP), and estimate indicators
that contribute to the institution’s environmental performance (Faitani 2017).
2 Methodology
We adopted a case study strategy and, by means of indicators, analyzed the environmental performance of universities with respect to the management of urban solid
waste. The case study strategy allows examining and understanding contemporary
events, especially for emerging issues (Yin 2005), such as the implementation of
SWMPs in LAC (Sáenz 2014; Sáenz and Benayas 2011). The protocol for the case
study used here is presented in Table 1 and was adapted from Jabbour et al. (2013).
Although the study was carried out in seven university campuses, only four campuses—where full and validated information was available—were selected for this
work.
The following requirements were verified in each of these campuses: (i) that
they apply environmental management programs that include a SWMP; (ii) that they
maintain an active line of work; (iii) that they represent different regions of LAC; (iv)
that they are part of university networks; and (v) that their sustainable development