The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership recently recognized 12 supermarket industry organizations and one advanced refrigeration system manufacturer for their exceptional achievements in reducing the impacts of commercial refrigeration systems on the environment.
“We applaud the strides these companies are making to reduce the environmental impact of commercial refrigeration systems,” said Joe Goffman, acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. “Many refrigerants are climate damaging, so by reducing refrigerant emissions and switching to more environmentally friendlier refrigerants, these companies are demonstrating their dedication to a sustainable future.”
GreenChill Partners in the food retail industry commit to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the environment. On average, GreenChill Partners maintain corporate-wide emissions rates that are approximately half the industry average.
EPA recognized GreenChill Partners in the following categories:
Best Corporate Emissions Rate
Cook County Whole Foods Co-op (Grand Marais, Minn.)
Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Most Improved Emissions Rate
City Market, Onion River Co-op (Burlington, Vt.)
Weis Markets (Sunbury, Pa.)
Superior Goal Achievement
Cook County Whole Foods Co-op (Grand Marais, Minn.)
Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.)
Grocery Outlet, Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.)
Hy-Vee (Des Moines, Iowa)
Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Raley's (Sacramento, Calif.)
Sprouts Farmers Market (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Target (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Exceptional Goal Achievement
Hy-Vee (Des Moines, Iowa)
Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Additionally, GreenChill’s Store Certification Program recognized stores for meeting strict performance criteria, including refrigeration systems with minimal potential impacts on the ozone layer and climate system. GreenChill Store Certification recognitions included the following:
Store Leadership
The Grocery Outlet, Inc. store in Canoga Park, Calif., was honored for its innovation as the first GreenChill-Certified Store to exclusively use propane (R-290) in its commercial refrigeration systems. The use of this low-GWP refrigerant demonstrates an innovative application of alternative refrigerants and a commitment to reduce its impact on the ozone layer and climate change.
Store Certification Excellence
ALDI (Batavia, Ill.) earned recognition for achieving more GreenChill Certified Stores than their peers over the past year. In the current award cycle, ALDI certified 424 stores – more stores than any supermarket chain has previously and all at the highest Platinum-Level Certification.
Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) achieved this recognition for the tenth consecutive year as the commercial systems manufacturer with the most systems installed in GreenChill Certified Stores in the past year.
Store Re-Certification Excellence
57 stores were recognized for achieving GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years. Recipients include 31 ALDI locations across New York and California; 21 Sprouts Farmers Market stores in Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Nevada; three Meijer stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois; one Target store in Sausalito, Calif.; and one Weis Markets store in Fogelsville, Pa.
About GreenChill
GreenChill is a voluntary partnership program that works cooperatively with the food retail industry to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the environment. Leaky systems can come at a high price, requiring retailers to pay for replacement refrigerant, system maintenance, and repairs. Reducing leaks is also beneficial to the environment, as some refrigerants deplete the stratospheric ozone layer and are potent greenhouse gases. In addition to reducing leaks, GreenChill participants are transitioning to environmentally friendlier refrigerants and adopting advanced refrigeration technologies.
Since the program launched in 2007, more and more food retailers have joined the Corporate Emissions Reduction Program (the Partnership) with the number of stores nearly tripling from 4,500 to 12,926 today. The Partnership represents more than 30 percent of the U.S. food retail industry.
Participation in GreenChill’s Store Certification Program for Food Retailers continues to grow. In 2020, there were 662 GreenChill certified stores throughout the nation, a 14 percent increase from 2019. From the beginning of the GreenChill Store Certification Program in 2008 through 2020, the program has issued more than 2,500 certifications to over 950 individual stores.
