Romanian Students’ Environment-Related Routines during COVID-19 Home Confinement: Water, Plastic, and Paper Consumption

Vasile Gherheș, Mariana Cernicova-Buca, Marcela Alina Fărcașiu and Adina Palea
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Vasile Gherheș: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Mariana Cernicova-Buca: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Marcela Alina Fărcașiu: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania
Adina Palea: Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: The disruptive force of the COVID-19 pandemic is lessening in power and plans are being made for the postcrisis period, among which increasing the sustainability of higher education is of significant importance. The study aims at establishing students’ existing environment-related routines during their home confinement, as a basis for applying green measures to campus living once academic life is resumed with the physical presence of students. The collected data rely on self-reported information provided by 816 students from Politehnica University of Timisoara (Romania), collected via an online, anonymous survey. The novelty of the approach is that household environment-related routines are investigated during a crisis period, with the possibility to build upon the results to implement tailored measures to encourage or diminish environmentally relevant consumption by young, highly skilled individuals. The students display a moderate awareness of environmental issues and indicate consumption routines that may be steered towards an increased sustainability-conscious campus life, through the combined intervention of the university, city administration, and stakeholder involvement. The findings are used to explore the possible directions for action towards increasing or contributing to the territorial sustainability in the socio-ecological context of Timisoara, the largest university city in the western part of Romania via educational, managerial and policy interventions.

Keywords: student campus; post-COVID-19 higher education; socio-ecological system; territorial sustainability; environmental policy; green university; environment-related routine; water consumption; plastic consumption; paper consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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