Cycle of Farm, Dining Halls, Compost Facility
Organic waste from Fountain, Case, and Clark Dining Halls is collected in dumpsters around campus. It’s transported to NC State’s Compost Facility and Research Cooperative, where compost piles are mixed with carbon sources like animal bedding and aerated. The piles heat up, which breaks down waste and kills bacteria. The compost cures for several weeks and once it’s ready, it travels to NC State’s Agroecology Education Farm and other edible spaces on campus. The nutrient-rich compost acts as a fertilizer that helps grow food that is given back to the Dining Halls.
Pack Meal Share
Students on a Flex meal plan can donate unused guest meals to a program that supports students facing food insecurity. In the 22-23 school year, students donated over 6,000 meals to students in need.
Sustainability partners
NC State Dining has partnerships on campus with student organizations, professors, and departments. Our efforts with student organizations like the NC State Sustainability Stewards and campus departments like the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling help align our sustainability goals and create a path toward achieving them.
NC State Dining and the Office of Sustainability support each other’s sustainability events and initiatives, including working together to promote Earth Month events. Through the Office of Sustainability’s Campus as a Classroom internship program, which places students in sustainability internships all across campus, Dining has taken three student interns over the course of the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years. These students work to make NC State Dining’s sustainable practices more visible, provide sustainability education through Dining initiatives, improve waste diversion, increase the portion of local food being purchased, and overall help Dining make more sustainable choices.
Paul Matney, NC State Dining’s Business Officer, won a 2024 Sustainability Award for his dedication to sustainability through leading Dining’s sustainability committee, managing Dining’s Campus as a Classroom interns, and advocacy for sustainable practices within Dining.
Karthik Jayakumar, Dining’s Campus as a Classroom purchasing data intern, won a 2024 City of Raleigh Community Action environmental award for his work towards auditing, tracking, and identifying improvement areas for the purchasing of local food.
More campus partnerships include:
Sustainability Stewards
Supported by the university’s Sustainability Office, the Sustainability Stewards are sustainability student leaders promoting sustainable practices among their peers and the community. NC State Dining works with the Stewards to support and promote their events and initiatives, like a March 2024 food waste documentary screening in Fountain Dining Hall, and a November 2024 Green Grill Out event for which Dining donated black bean burgers.
NC State Extension
Every September, the Sandhills Research Station Peach Farm provides peaches that are used to make delicious peach ice cream for NC State Dining’s All Carolinas meal.
Certified sustainable events
Every year, Fountain Dining Hall hosts the All-Carolinas meal in September and Farm Feast in April. These events focus on local vendors and serve tasty North Carolina classics, with a fun concert to enjoy. They’re also both certified sustainable through NC State’s sustainability office at the Champion level.
Dining Diplomats
Students interested in food and nutrition are invited to participate in the Dining Diplomat program. Dining Diplomats gain experience in all aspects of dining, including sustainability projects and initiatives. Typically, the dining diplomat experience includes a guest speaker session with the sustainability department, a tour of the Agroecology Farm, and a behind-the-scenes tour of a dining hall and dish return area. Sustainability is incorporated into everything we do in dining, making it an integral part of this internship experience.