Solid waste management index for Brazilian Higher Education Institutions Rodrigo Moreira a,⇑ , Tadeu F. Malheiros b , Jose F. Alfaro c , Tiago B. Cetrulo d , Lucas V. Ávila e a Mato Grosso do Sul State University, 370 General Ozório St., Center, Coxim, MS, Brazil b Sanitation and Hydraulics Department, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, Brazil c School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States d Agriculture Sciences Department, Mato Grosso State University, Nova Mutum, MT, Brazil e Business School, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil article info Article history: Received 12 April 2018 Revised 17 August 2018 Accepted 13 September 2018 Keywords: Environmental management Universities Composite indicators abstract This paper presents the Solid Waste Management Index (SWaMI) for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The main objectives are to present how SWaMI was developed, to apply the Index in three different uni- versities in Brazil and one in United States, to statistically compare the results and to present an analysis of these HEIs under the SWaMI assessment dimensions perspective. The SwaMI fills a gap regarding a specific waste management tool for HEIs decision makers, considering the responsibility of educating and training future leaders and the need to insert the sustainable waste management discussion in its end activities. Criteria were selected through literature review and divided in dimensions, further weighted according to their significance in waste management. These weights were discussed and stip- ulated based on expert opinion using the Budget Allocation Process (BAP) weighting method. The individ- ual indexes for each dimension were further combined into a composite index through the Linear Aggregation Method. Main findings shows that when comparisons were deployed between HEIs, no sta- tistical significance was noticed when the means were compared between universities using ANOVA with Tukey test. Nevertheless, when comparing each dimension within each HEI, there was significant differ- ence between the Policy and Management dimension and the other three dimensions of the evaluation criteria at USP. Researchers concluded that the SWaMI provides decision makers with graphic results concerning HEIs solid waste management situation, hence, it allows the creation of a baseline data on how the current system works, pointing out the dimensions that present the greatest weakness allowing to perform benchmarking between buildings, institutes, and even between HEIs. Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Decision makers have labored to make Higher Education Insti- tutions’ (HEIs) sustainable best practices role models (Liedtke et al., 2012), inserting social-environmental premises in manage- ment and operations through a transversal and integrated way (Levy and Marans, 2012). In this context, solid waste management, one of society’s main problems, must be discussed in HEIs’ research, teaching and outreach activities (Taghizadeh and Ghassemzadeh, 2012). Strategies have been adopted by HEIs to insert social- environmental aspects in their daily management and operational processes, which have proven effective in this transition towards sustainability. However, these decision spaces need support tools, deploying diagnosis and monitoring, and presenting results in a concise form. Composite indicators are a major environmental assessment tool, supporting self-reporting and further analysis regarding HEIs’ sustainable aspects (Moldan et al., 2012). This paper presents the Solid Waste Management Index (SWaMI) for Higher Education Institutions, which fills a gap regarding a specific waste management tools for HEIs decision makers, considering the responsibility of educating and training future leaders and the need to insert the sustainable waste man- agement discussion in its end activities. If applied longitudinally, the SWaMI is able to identify weaknesses in educational (teaching, research and outreach), management and operations aspects where decision makers should focus efforts and graphically show- ing dimension behavior and tendencies. The SWaMI can be calculated through a criteria framework that addresses a HEIs Educational, Engagement, Operational, and Policy and Management major aspects. The criteria of the composite https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.09.025 0956-053X/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: moreirarmt@gmail.com (R. Moreira). Waste Management 80 (2018) 292–298 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Waste Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman