BALTIMORE, MD. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Program on Thursday recognized 12 food retail companies and one manufacturer of advanced refrigeration systems for their exceptional achievements in reducing the use of ozone-depleting substances and/or climate-damaging refrigerants. The recognition came during a ceremony at FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Energy and Store Development Conference.

“Participants in the GreenChill Partnership and Store Certification Programs have been leading the industry in environmentally friendly refrigeration practices, and EPA annually honors their achievements at both the corporate and individual store certification level,” said Paul Gunning, Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Protection. “These companies’ efforts show that it is possible to keep food cool while protecting our Earth’s ozone layer and climate system by setting and achieving ambitious goals year after year.”

GreenChill Partners commit to reducing refrigerant emissions and decreasing their impact on the environment. On average, GreenChill food retailers maintain emissions rates that are approximately half the industry average, resulting in a significant benefit to the environment. Over the past 16 years, GreenChill Partners have avoided emissions of around 599 metric tons of ozone-depleting substances and almost 110 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from consuming over 12 billion gallons of gasoline.

This year, EPA is proud to recognize GreenChill Partner companies in the following categories:

Best Emissions Rate

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
• Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Most Improved Emissions Rate

• Brookshire Grocery Company (Tyler, Texas)

Superior Goal Achievement

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
• Brookshire Grocery Company (Tyler, Texas)
• Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.)
• The GIANT Company (Carlisle, Pa.)
• Hannaford (Scarborough, Maine)
• King Kullen (Bethpage, N.Y.)
• Weis Markets (Sunbury, Pa.)

Exceptional Goal Achievement

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.)
• Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.)

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. This year’s GreenChill Store Certification recognitions honor:

Store Leadership

• Kwik Trip in La Crosse, Wis., is being honored as the first convenience store to receive a GreenChill Certification.

Store Certification Excellence

• ALDI (Batavia, Ill.) earned recognition for certifying 628 GreenChill Certified Stores over the past year, more stores than any supermarket chain has previously achieved, all of which were at the highest Platinum-Level Certification.
• Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) achieved this recognition for the 11th consecutive year as the commercial systems manufacturer with the most systems installed in GreenChill Certified Stores in the last year.

Store Recertification Excellence

• ALDI – A total of 109 locations across California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
• Hannaford – The Turner, Maine, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for 10 consecutive years.
• Meijer – The Marysville, Ohio, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
• Publix Super Markets – Five locations in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina achieved five-year recertifications.
• Target – Two stores in Florida and Illinois achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.
• Weis Markets – The Danville, Pennsylvania, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years.

About the GreenChill Program

GreenChill’s Partnership is a voluntary program for food retailers committed to leading the transition out of ozone-depleting refrigerants, reducing refrigerant emissions, and adopting improved refrigeration management practices and technologies. The goals of the GreenChill Partnership are to provide food retailers and other industry stakeholders with information and assistance to transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, lower refrigerant charge sizes, eliminate refrigerant leaks, implement best environmental practices, and adopt green refrigeration technologies.

Since GreenChill launched in 2007, many food retailers have joined the Corporate Emissions Reduction Program (the Partnership) with the number of stores nearly tripling from 4,500 to more than 13,000 stores today in all 50 states. The Partnership represents more than one-third of the U.S. food retail industry.

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program for food retailers continues to grow. In 2022, there were nearly 900 GreenChill Certified Stores throughout the nation. Since it began in 2008, the GreenChill Store Certification Program has issued more than 4,400 annual certifications to over 1,300 individual stores.

Learn more about GreenChill and these recognition recipients.