by Brianna Crandall — September 24, 2012—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Partnership has announced the recipients of the program’s 2012 Environmental Achievement Awards. Several supermarket partners were recognized for their achievements in refrigerant management over the past year.
EPA notes that the refrigerants used by supermarkets, if not managed properly, contribute to climate change and harm the ozone layer that protects people from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation. According to EPA, if all supermarkets reduced emissions to the GreenChill average, the industry would eliminate 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year—the equivalent of removing 4.3 million cars from the road.
The Albertsons Carpinteria, California, store was recognized with GreenChill’s prestigious Best of the Best Award, given to the best new GreenChill-certified store each year. The Carpenteria store recently achieved Platinum-Level store certification, the highest certification level that can be obtained for advanced refrigeration technology that prevents harmful refrigerant emissions. It is the first store in the nation to use a new generation of low-global-warming refrigerants.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was honored with GreenChill’s Store Certification Excellence Award for certifying more stores than any other grocer in the nation under the GreenChill Store Certification program. This is the second consecutive year that Fresh & Easy won this award.
Whole Foods Market won GreenChill’s Superior Goal Achievement Award for exceeding the company’s annual target to reduce refrigerant emissions from their stores. Even though GreenChill Partners achieve emission rates well below national averages, all partners set ambitious, tough-to-achieve annual goals to continually improve their performance, notes EPA.
SUPERVALU, which operates Albertsons and Lucky stores, earned this year’s Distinguished Partner Award. The Distinguished Partner Award is given to the supermarket partner company that goes above and beyond to advance the mission of the GreenChill Partnership.
EPA’s GreenChill Partnership is a voluntary program that works with supermarkets to transition to low-impact refrigerants, reduce the amount of refrigerant used, and eliminate harmful refrigerant leaks. GreenChill has 54 partners with almost 8,000 stores, representing over 20 percent of the supermarket industry.
