This paper aims to present a review of household waste management in two small municipalities located at Mountain Region (RS – Brazil). As method, it was used data from waste amounts destined for regular and selective collection, physical characterization and gravimetric composition of the waste generated in three neighbourhoods of different social classes. It was observed that the largest municipality showed better efficiency and higher coverage of selective collection. The per capita index of waste generation was similar among municipalities, despite of differences in population size and in social and economic characteristics. The neighbourhoods with high and middle classes presented better segregation in both collections and municipalities. The presence of biodegradable materials in selective collection (average 14%) and recyclable materials in regular collection (average 21%) was observed. The obtained results indicated the necessity to continuously investing on expansion of selective collection and environmental education, in order to improve waste segregation, which contributes with the efficiency level of triage plants, as well as to increase the potential recovery of waste recyclable and the useful life of landfills.

The incorporation of environmental issues to strategic planning, called environmental strategy, has been presented as an opportunity for organizations to effectively manage the various pressures and challenges that contemporaneity has been requiring in terms of sustainability. The number of high education institutions that highlight sustainability in their strategy have been increasing during the last few years. Some reasons for this are the increase of competition in the sector, the imposed pressure for their stakeholders and their responsibility in teaching and promoting the principles of environmental ethics and sustainable development. Based on that, this study has the goal of evaluating the environmental strategy of three community institutions of higher education in southern Brazil, based on their employees' perception. To achieve the goal, a research-diagnosis study was conducted through a structured questionnaire in a digital format, in which the measurement of respondents' opinions was performed using a Likert Scale of five points. The results were evaluated based on descriptive statistics and categorized according to the environmental strategies presented on the natural resource-based view framework. It was possible to identify that each community institution of higher education that participated in the study presented a different environmental strategy, based on natural resource-based view framework. The results also indicate that even the University that presents the most developed environmental strategy has problems in disseminating environmental information through its organizational structure, based on employees' perception.

A indicação de que parte do atual cenário ambiental é resultante das atividades humanas tem gerado um aumento da pressão política e social sobre as organizações, para que essas adotem práticas ambientais eficazes. Essa pressão atualmente atinge aos mais diversos setores, inclusive o educacional. Dessa forma, a incorporação das questões ambientais ao planejamento estratégico, denominada estratégia ambiental, demonstra ser uma oportunidade de gerenciar, de forma eficaz, as diversas pressões e desafios da atualidade. As Instituições de Ensino Superior, em especial, possuem uma grande responsabilidade de executar aquilo que ensinam. Assim, o presente artigo tem por objetivo avaliar a gestão ambiental e a incorporação dos temas ambientais ao planejamento estratégico de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior internacional, por meio da percepção de seus colaboradores. Os resultados demonstram que a estratégia ambiental adotada pela Instituição possui natureza reativa, contrariando em partes sua responsabilidade de instituição promotora do conhecimento. Verifica-se, igualmente, que a Instituição possui um sistema de gestão ambiental informal, composto por diversas ações que possuem exigência legal. Identifica-se, por fim, inúmeras possibilidades de melhoria dos processos de gestão ambiental da organização. Palavras-chave Estratégia ambiental, Gestão ambiental, Instituições de Ensino SuperiorGood practices in environmental management at High Education Institutions: the case of University of Applied Science AbstractThe signal that part of current environmental scenario is resulted by human activities has generated an increase in political and social pressure on organizations to adopt effective environmental practices. This pressure now affects the most diverse sectors, including education. In this way, the incorporation of environmental issues into strategic planning, called environmental strategy, proves to be an opportunity to effectively manage various pressures and challenges. Higher Education Institutions, in particular, have a great responsibility to carry out what they teach. Thus, the objective of this article is to evaluate environmental management and the incorporation of environmental themes into the strategic planning of an International Higher Education Institution, through the perception of its employees. The results show that the environmental strategy adopted by the Institution is reactive, by nature, contradicting in part its responsibility as an institution that promotes knowledge. It is also verified that the Institution has an informal environmental management system, composed of several actions that have legal requirements. Finally, it identifies innumerable possibilities for improving the organization's environmental management processes.