Abstract
Objective
Identify types of food packaging used in school nutrition programs and competing priorities,
barriers, and facilitators for sustainable packaging waste use and recovery.
Design
Qualitative interviews (n = 20) and structured kitchen observations were conducted.
Setting
Data were collected from 3 school districts in Northern Colorado.
Participants
Three nutrition program directors, 14 kitchen managers, and 3 sustainability staff.
Phenomenon of Interest
Barriers and facilitators for sustainable food packaging waste practices among school
nutrition programs.
Analysis
Interviews were recorded and transcribed, followed by inductive content analysis to
identify themes.
Results
Commonly used food packaging included cardboard, aluminum, paper, plastic, and styrofoam.
Four competing priorities were identified as impacting school nutrition programs’
ability to reduce or recover food packaging: serving line speed, labor, food quality,
and cost. One key barrier was that school staff had difficulty understanding the total
system impact of their food packaging use and recovery decisions.
Conclusions and Implications
Food packaging is commonly used in school nutrition programs, and participants felt
that its use offered key benefits, such as facilitating faster serving lines. More
research is needed to quantify the direct and indirect impacts of packaging waste
reduction and recovery in school nutrition programs.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 5,
2021
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior.
