Purpose This study aims to provide insight into the challenges and opportunities that university campus food/beverage vendors face to transition from single-use plastic items to advance United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a mixed-methods approach. Subject matter experts at other universities were interviewed in the exploratory stage of the research. The decision-makers met regularly to determine opportunities and challenges to eliminate single-use plastics. The decision-takers (the food/beverage vendors) completed a survey about their understanding of a federal ban and their preparedness to reduce single-use plastic items beyond the ban. Findings This study unveiled the interconnectedness of decision-makers and decision-takers and the need to collaborate to implement a single-use plastic reduction plan. Vendors maintained positive attitudes about the transition, but they recognized both opportunities and challenges. The analysis compared franchisees with independent business owners and revealed some differences in the vendors’ abilities to support single-use plastic reduction based on business type. Originality/value Even though the government ban was an initial motivator, both decision-makers and decision-takers needed to collaborate to ensure the plan would be a success and exceed the regulation. Previous studies have not investigated the challenges that vendors (independent vs franchisees) face in the implementation process. Other institutions can learn from the benefits of engagement and the challenges of working among functional areas to make operational changes at postsecondary campuses.
Mukesh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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