This paper presents data from a survey administered to 548 public and private school headteachers in Catalonia (Spain) in 2018 on sustainability practices and food waste management. Raw data were collected through a standardised and structured questionnaire (For more information refer to Building and managing sustainable schools: The case of food waste [1]). The variables of the dataset include items relative to the canteen management system, the school sustainability profile and perceptions on food waste generation and management. Additionally, data on the level of implementation and interest on a wide range of potential initiatives to fight against food waste are provided within this article. School-level attributes (e.g. size, infrastructure) are also included.