New Dining Facility at Colorado State to Feature Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Colorado State University will open the first phase of its newest eco-friendly dining facility – the Ram’s Horn at the Commons – on Monday, March 24.

Located in the center of the Academic Village, the first phase of the project will include a sports grille and a convenience store on the first floor. The Ram’s Horn at the Commons also will feature environmentally friendly initiatives that will reduce waste and energy costs.

The Sports Grille will showcase Colorado State sports memorabilia on its walls and serve pub-style food such as pizza, hamburgers and sub sandwiches. The Sports Grille will seat about 200 people.

The convenience store, named Ram’s Horn Express, will offer to-go menu options like salads, sushi and sandwiches as well as school supplies and Colorado State apparel. It will also have a smoothie and espresso bar. Vail Mountain Coffee has produced a special CSU roast for the Commons that will be sold in the convenience store.

"The students living in the Academic Village have been waiting for this since the fall," said Tonie Miyamoto, director of communications for Housing and Dining Services. "They’re very excited to have an onsite dining location."

In addition to dining options, the Ram’s Horn at the Commons will use 100 percent green electric power as well as a pulper that will reduce the waste stream by up to 70 percent. The pulper will grind organic scraps as well as paper and cardboard to create a pulp that will be composted. Water removed from the pulp will be re-circulated. The pulper will save Colorado State up to 120,000 gallons of water a month based on estimates from other universities that use pulpers.

"The use of plastic and polystyrene were eliminated wherever possible," said Deon Lategan, director of Residential Dining Services. "We are proud of these accomplishments and the other environmentally friendly initiates in this building and believe we have set a new standard in how our campus university food service operates."

Phase two of the Ram’s Horn at the Commons is scheduled to open this summer and will focus on the facility’s second floor.

Facilities will feature a variety of dining options including salads, Mongolian grill, pasta bar and omelets to order.

Located on the southwestern end of campus, Academic Village opened in fall 2007 and offers two living-learning communities, Honors and Engineering, for students. Each community has a building in the village that integrates classroom and experiential learning into the living area of the $42 million complex of buildings.

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