diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0536e23..6bba96a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Note: Breaking changes between versions are indicated by "💥".
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- 💥[Improvement] Serve openedx static assets with [whitenoise](http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/stable/) instead of nginx. This removes the `k8s-deployments-nginx-init-containers` patch. Plugins are encouraged to implement static asset serving with Whitenoise as well.
 - [Bugfix] Fix dependency on mysql service when mysql is not activated
 - [Improvement] Improve openedx Docker image build time and size with multi-stage build
 - [Feature] Get rid of outdated sysadmin dashboard in LMS at /sysadmin
diff --git a/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/cms.conf b/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/cms.conf
index 4b36d66..864f549 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/cms.conf
+++ b/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/cms.conf
@@ -47,29 +47,5 @@ server {
     try_files /$file =404;
     expires 31536000s;
   }
-
-  location ~ ^/static/(?P<file>.*) {
-    root /var/www/openedx;
-    try_files /staticfiles/$file /course_static/$file =404;
-
-    # return a 403 for static files that shouldn't be
-    # in the staticfiles directory
-    location ~ ^/static/(?:.*)(?:\.xml|\.json|README.TXT) {
-      return 403;
-    }
-
-    # Set django-pipelined files to maximum cache time
-    location ~ "/static/(?P<collected>.*\.[0-9a-f]{12}\..*)" {
-      expires max;
-      try_files /staticfiles/$collected /course_static/$collected =404;
-    }
-    location ~ "/static/(?P<collected>[0-9a-f]{7}/.*)" {
-      expires max;
-      try_files /staticfiles/$collected /course_static/$collected =404;
-    }
-
-    # Expire other static files immediately (there should be very few / none of these)
-    expires epoch;
-  }
 }
 {% endif %}
diff --git a/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/lms.conf b/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/lms.conf
index 5a31878..a415a67 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/lms.conf
+++ b/tutor/templates/apps/nginx/lms.conf
@@ -64,29 +64,5 @@ server {
     try_files /$file =404;
     expires 31536000s;
   }
-
-  location ~ ^/static/(?P<file>.*) {
-    root /var/www/openedx;
-    try_files /staticfiles/$file /course_static/$file =404;
-
-    # return a 403 for static files that shouldn't be
-    # in the staticfiles directory
-    location ~ ^/static/(?:.*)(?:\.xml|\.json|README.TXT) {
-      return 403;
-    }
-
-    # Set django-pipelined files to maximum cache time
-    location ~ "/static/(?P<collected>.*\.[0-9a-f]{12}\..*)" {
-      expires max;
-      try_files /staticfiles/$collected /course_static/$collected =404;
-    }
-    location ~ "/static/(?P<collected>[0-9a-f]{7}/.*)" {
-      expires max;
-      try_files /staticfiles/$collected /course_static/$collected =404;
-    }
-
-    # Expire other static files immediately (there should be very few / none of these)
-    expires epoch;
-  }
 }
 {% endif %}
diff --git a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/cms/production.py b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/cms/production.py
index 6b04a88..1549e32 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/cms/production.py
+++ b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/cms/production.py
@@ -9,4 +9,6 @@ ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
     "cms",
 ]
 
+MIDDLEWARE.insert(0, "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware")
+
 {{ patch("openedx-cms-production-settings") }}
diff --git a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/lms/production.py b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/lms/production.py
index 79d568f..2976862 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/lms/production.py
+++ b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/settings/lms/production.py
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
     "lms",
 ]
 
+MIDDLEWARE.insert(0, "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware")
+
 # Required to display all courses on start page
 SEARCH_SKIP_ENROLLMENT_START_DATE_FILTERING = True
 
diff --git a/tutor/templates/build/openedx/Dockerfile b/tutor/templates/build/openedx/Dockerfile
index b053727..8c35290 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/build/openedx/Dockerfile
+++ b/tutor/templates/build/openedx/Dockerfile
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ RUN pip install https://github.com/overhangio/edx-ora2/archive/overhangio/boto2t
 # Install scorm xblock
 RUN pip install "openedx-scorm-xblock<11.0.0,>=10.0.0"
 
+# Install whitenoise, for serving static assets
+RUN pip install "whitenoise==5.1.0"
+
 # Install private requirements: this is useful for installing custom xblocks.
 COPY ./requirements/ /openedx/requirements
 RUN cd /openedx/requirements/ \
diff --git a/tutor/templates/k8s/deployments.yml b/tutor/templates/k8s/deployments.yml
index 3cb1175..15e8072 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/k8s/deployments.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/k8s/deployments.yml
@@ -370,35 +370,12 @@ spec:
       labels:
         app.kubernetes.io/name: nginx
     spec:
-      initContainers:
-        - name: clean-openedx-staticfiles
-          image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_OPENEDX }}
-          args: ['rm', '-rf', '/var/www/openedx/staticfiles']
-          volumeMounts:
-            - mountPath: /var/www/openedx/
-              name: openedx-staticfiles
-        - name: init-openedx-staticfiles
-          image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_OPENEDX }}
-          args: ['cp', '-r', '/openedx/staticfiles', '/var/www/openedx/']
-          volumeMounts:
-            - mountPath: /var/www/openedx/
-              name: openedx-staticfiles
-        {{ patch("k8s-deployments-nginx-init-containers")|indent(8) }}
       containers:
         - name: nginx
           image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_NGINX }}
           volumeMounts:
             - mountPath: /etc/nginx/conf.d/
               name: config
-            - mountPath: /var/www/openedx/
-              name: openedx-staticfiles
-              readOnly: true
-            - mountPath: /openedx/data/cms
-              name: data-cms
-              readOnly: true
-            - mountPath: /openedx/data/lms
-              name: data-lms
-              readOnly: true
             {{ patch("k8s-deployments-nginx-volume-mounts")|indent(12) }}
           ports:
             - containerPort: 80
@@ -407,12 +384,6 @@ spec:
         - name: config
           configMap:
             name: nginx-config
-        - name: openedx-staticfiles
-          emptyDir: {}
-        - name: data-cms
-          emptyDir: {}
-        - name: data-lms
-          emptyDir: {}
         {{ patch("k8s-deployments-nginx-volumes")|indent(8) }}
 {% if ACTIVATE_RABBITMQ %}
 ---
diff --git a/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.prod.yml b/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.prod.yml
index 8cc6584..e3a453b 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.prod.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.prod.yml
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 version: "3.7"
 services:
-  openedx-assets:
-    image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_OPENEDX }}
-    volumes:
-      - ../../data/openedx:/var/www/openedx
-    command: sh -c "rm -rf /var/www/openedx/staticfiles && cp -r /openedx/staticfiles/ /var/www/openedx/"
-
   nginx:
     image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_NGINX }}
     restart: unless-stopped
@@ -21,7 +15,6 @@ services:
     {% endif %}
     volumes:
       - ../apps/nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d/:ro
-      - ../../data/openedx:/var/www/openedx:ro
       - ../../data/openedx-media:/var/www/openedx-media:ro
       {% if ACTIVATE_HTTPS %}- ../../data/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt/:ro{% endif %}
       {{ patch("local-docker-compose-nginx-volumes")|indent(6) }}