Green Dining Initiatives

At VCU Dining Services, we understand that our responsibility to identify and address the social and environmental concerns that matter most to guests, customers, employees, and communities. We focus our resources where we can make the most impact, which encompasses health and wellness, environmental stewardship, community/campus involvement, and employee advocacy.

Scroll down to learn more about each of these initiatives.

BUYING LOCAL 

RECYCLING ALL
COOKING OIL INTO
BIO-DIESEL 

SOLAR WATER  HEATER 

 GUEST RESTAURANT PROGRAM

 DISCOUNTS FOR
REUSABLE MUGS

SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES
PROGRAM

 TRAYLESS DINING

 GREEN CLEANING

 WASTE WEEK

  VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY

COMPOSTING ALL FOOD WASTE

 RECYCLE PAPER,
PLASTIC, AND ALUMINUM

Buying Local

Composting All
Food Waste

Each month over 5 tons of food waste is diverted from the local land fill and made into nutrient rich compost. This includes napkins and paper cups which are easily composted.

Discounts for Reusable Mugs

Reusable travel mugs designed by VCU students, are sold at dining locations on campus. All students, faculty and staff who bring a VCU travel mug for beverage refills at one of our locations receive a discount on their chosen beverage.

Green Cleaning

Instead of using soap, our floor cleaning equipment ionically charges tap water to remove dirt and bacteria. The result? Clean floors with minimal environmental impact.

Guest Restaurant
Program

VCU and ARAMARK Higher Education, LLC. partnered to develop the Guest Restaurant program in 2008. The program highlights local, minority-owned (SWAM certified) restaurants and is now an integral part of the overall VCU Dining Services program.

Sustainable Fisheries Program

ARAMARK has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s SEAFOOD WATCH® program. This partnership brings ARAMARK and Monterey Bay together in an alliance focused on preserving our oceans and fisheries for future generations by encouraging the use of sustainable seafood.

Solar Hot Water

Solar panels on the roof of Shafer Court Dining Center capture the suns' energy to heat the 750 gallon thermal water heater, providing enough hot water for half of all the hot water needs of the building.

Trayless Dining

VCU Dining is trayless. This not only conserves water, energy and the chemicals used to clean the trays, but also helps reduce the amount of food wasted.

Recycling Cooking Oil Into Bio-Diesel

By partnering with Greenlight Biofuels, VCU Dining’s used cooking oil is processed and converted into clean burning biodiesel products.

Recycling

The offices at each of the dining retail locations use post-consumer paper, and we recycle all used ofice paper and shredded documents. Furthermore, the cardboard and metal cans that our food comes in, are recycled at all our dining locations.

Waste Week

For three weeks each semester, VCU focuses on encouraging students to develop a habit of reducing the amount of food that is wasted. For every pound of waste reduced, ARAMARK donates a pound of food to the Central Virginia Food Bank. Each semester, approximately 550 pounds are donated.