Dining

With tens of thousands of students on campus, VCU Dining Services plays an important role in achieving the university’s sustainability goals. VCU Dining primarily emphasizes waste reduction through trayless dining, reusable dishware, eco-friendly packaging and waste awareness campaigns. 

Continue reading and visit VCU Dining Services’ website for more information on their green initiatives and a list of local farm partners.

Composting pilot program

VCU is reducing waste by employing a composting pilot program in four dining facilities on the Monroe Park and MCV campuses. For each ton of food scraps collected from VCU, the university receives a 40-ton bag of compost to use in its landscaping. As of March 2025, more than 33,000 pounds have been composted across four locations. 

ReusePass

In April 2025, VCU Dining Services kicked off the ReusePass program at Shafer which offers reusable plastic clamshell to-go containers with an RFID tag to help track its lifespan.