Sustainable Dining
Students working at the Virginia Tech Dining Services Farm at Kentland Farm. The farm produces sustainably grown local foods for VT's dining centers.
We believe in a sustainable future for Virginia Tech.
At Dining Services, sustainability is a core part of our mission. Our vision for sustainable campus dining is part of how we design our dining centers, source our ingredients, and our commitment to recycling and composting programs. We believe our green initiatives positively impact our Blacksburg campus and the broader community.
Here’s how our innovative programs work.
Waste Minimization:
Our Dining Centers work to limit the amount of waste and trash sent to landfills in several ways. Food waste from our kitchens and customers is diverted to a Virginia composting facility that converts it to specialty soils for farming and landscaping. Dining Services’ recycling initiatives, as part of broader campus efforts, kept 2,000 tons of glass, aluminum, and plastics out of landfills in 2019.
Homefield Farm:
The centerpiece of our local dining initiative is Homefield Farm, which is a partnership between Dining Services and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and located eight miles from campus. The six-acre, organic operation is entirely student-run and supplies dining centers with more than 50,000 pounds of fresh produce, along with running a farm stand on campus each fall.
Reusable To-Go program:
Our “R2G” program started in 2010 at the request of our students. The green, to-go meal containers are free to use and are returned for cleaning and reuse, keeping thousands of pounds of food packaging out of landfills. Dining Services also offers for purchase Kleen Kanteen insulated mugs.