Top 10 Things You Want to Know about Dining

You’ve Asked – We Answered

1. Have a Columbia Dining Plan? You get an eco-container! And you get an eco-container! 

Columbia Dining plan holders are eligible for an eco-container. Tokens were made available to students at the register for free through October 29. Tokens can now be purchased by Columbia Dining Plan holders for a one-time fee of $5 and redeemed for a clean container. Turn in your used container for a new one or a token to use again another time. 

2. Eco-containers are available at ALL residential dining locations. 

You can pick up or return the eco-containers at ALL residential dining locations – that means John Jay, JJ’s Place and Ferris Booth. Don’t see them? Just ask! 

3. If you don’t have an eco-container, don’t stress. 

You can pay 50 cents for a compostable container. Why the charge? It’s better for you to use a reusable container to cut down on waste. 

4. Other ways to take food to-go? We got options. 

At Ferris and JJ’s, food is served in a paper vessel that you can just carry out with you. You can also use the soup/oatmeal containers and coffee cups to go. 

5. Let us do the washing. No personal containers, please. 

The eco-container program is facilitated according to NYC Department of Health code. Part of that is ensuring the containers are cleaned properly for the next use. For this reason, among other health codes, personal food containers, water bottles, or bags are not permitted in the dining hall. 

6. Everyday we’re composting. 

We compost all our food waste. All of it. Anything from our kitchens gets scraped separately for composting. Your food scraps in John Jay get pulverized and composted. All waste collected in Ferris Booth and JJ’s Place goes to compost. The paper vessels used to serve food at those locations are compostable. The plastic cutlery gets sorted out at our vendor’s composting facility for recycling.  

7. Those cold beverage cups? Yeah, they’re compostable too. 

The cold beverage cups provided at our all dining locations are PLA and are compostable. Say what? Yeah, that’s right. 

8. H is for Halal. 

Check the menu identification key at all of our residential dining units. Menus at serving stations use these letters to indicate items like Gluten Free, Dairy, Vegetarian – and Halal. In addition to the dedicated Halal serving station in Jay, all of our chicken breast is Halal, and bone-in chicken at Jay and Ferris is also Halal.  

9. Be mindful of fellow students following special diets. 

The Halal, Gluten Free, and Vegan stations at Jay are there for students following those diets or with allergies. When making yourself a plate of food, please be mindful of your peers and select from other stations! 

10. We want to hear your feedback. No, really, we do. 

Love something and want to see more of it? Not happy with how something turned out? We love food and want to make you happy. Just tell us. No hard feelings. Look for a manager on the floor, send us a text, or use our feedback form. We can’t serve more of what you love or fix something that’s not right if you don’t tell us. 

Be Kind and Dine! 

Thanks for being part of our dining community.