GreenChill Award Winners Announced During FMI
Companies are recognized for exceptional achievements in reducing HFC emissions
RECORD NUMBER: ALDI certified 505 stores at the Platinum-Level, which is the highest number of Platinum level stores certified in one year by any company in GreenChill’s history. (Courtesy of ALDI)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently presented its annual GreenChill awards at FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Energy and Store Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. This year, GreenChill honored 13 supermarket industry organizations and one advanced refrigeration system manufacturer for exceptional achievements in effectively managing refrigerants and reducing emissions of ozone-depleting substances and high GWP gases such as HFCs to reduce the impacts of commercial refrigeration systems on the environment.
Since its founding in 2007, GreenChill has grown from 10 partners representing about 4,500 stores to 33 food retail partners representing over one-third of all U.S. supermarkets, or over 13,000 stores. On average, GreenChill food retailers maintain emissions rates that are approximately half the industry average. Over the past 15 years, Partners have avoided emissions of over 500 metric tons of ozone-depleting substances and roughly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from consuming over 11 billion gallons of gasoline.
The following are the GreenChill Partners that were recognized for outstanding refrigerant management at both the corporate level and at the individual store certification level.
2022 GreenChill Corporate Partner Awardees:
Best Corporate Emissions Rate
- Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
- Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Most Improved Emissions Rate
- PCC Community Markets (Seattle, Wash.)
- Weis Markets (Sunbury, Pa.)
Superior Goal Achievement
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- Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
- BJ’s (Westborough, Mass.)
- Coborn’s Inc. (St. Cloud, Minn.)
- Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.)
- The GIANT Company (Carlisle, Pa.)
- Giant Eagle (Pittsburg, Pa.)
- Hy-Vee (Des Moines, Iowa)
- Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Target (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Exceptional Goal Achievement
- Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
- Coborn’s Inc. (St. Cloud, Minn.)
- Giant Eagle (Pittsburg, Pa.)
- Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
2022 GreenChill Store Certification Program Awardees:
Store Leadership
Target’s Vista, Calif. location was honored for the innovative design as the company’s first net-zero energy store (Target has applied for net-zero certification from the International Future Living Institute). The pursuit of this certification is a first among GreenChill certified stores.
Store Certification Excellence
- ALDI (Batavia, Ill.) certified 505 stores at the Platinum-Level. This is the highest number of Platinum level stores certified in one year by any company in GreenChill’s history.
- Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) installed the most systems in GreenChill Certified Stores in 2021. This is the 10th consecutive year Hillphoenix has won this award.
Store Re-Certification Excellence
- Sprouts Farmers Market – One store in Whittier, California, achieved GreenChill Store Certification for 10 consecutive years. Seventeen additional Sprouts Farmers Market stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee earned recognition for five consecutive years of certification.
- ALDI – Twenty-one stores across California, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
- Weis Markets – Two stores in Maryland achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
- Meijer – One store in Indiana achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
- Target – One store in Minnesota achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
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 leaders in transitioning to environmentally friendlier refrigerants and adopting advanced refrigeration technologies.
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