Fill your belly not your bin: An action research project to reduce food waste at Kunskapsskolan in Trelleborg, Sweden

Sammanfattning: School canteens have been identified as a unique case to address food waste due to their dual role: on one hand as big generators of food waste and on the other as settings to deliver education to reduce it. This thesis applies action research methodology to a collaborative project with a school called Kunskapsskolan in Trelleborg, Sweden, attempting to reduce food waste. The aim is to identify drivers of food waste and by applying the Three Spheres of Transformation framework explore possibilities and constraints to reduce food waste in the school. Results show that food waste drivers can be categorized as behavioral, operational and situational which are interconnected with possibilities in the personal and practical spheres and with constraints mainly in the political. This thesis concludes that all three spheres, the personal, political and practical spheres, should be considered in order to significantly reduce food waste in the school canteen.