Stater Bros. Markets Earns EPA GreenChill Award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently presented Stater Bros. Markets with its GreenChill Partnership's "Best Emissions Rate" award. The honor recognizes the supermarket chain for maintaining the lowest corporate-wide refrigerant emissions rate among large retail GreenChill partners in 2014. There are approximately 10,800 GreenChill partner stores throughout the nation.  Scott Limbacher, Stater Bros. Markets' vice president of construction and maintenance, accepted the award at the Food Marketing Institute Energy & Store Development Conference in San Diego, California on September 29th. This marks the third time Stater Bros. Markets has been recognized with this distinction. In addition, three Stater Bros. supermarkets also received achievement awards for being GreenChill certified for five consecutive years.  Stater Bros. is the only Southern California grocer to have eight stores that are GreenChill certified at the gold level and one at the silver level. Stater Bros. Markets' other environment efforts include replacing or retrofitting in-store refrigerated cases with new glass doors that reduce energy usage by 60%, LED lighting, and an energy management system that controls refrigeration, air conditioning, and lighting. Stater Bros. also participates in California's Voluntary Demand Response Program to reduce energy consumption at store level when demand is high.  In addition, Stater Bros. removes over 125 million pounds of waste from landfills annually through various sustainability programs. "Stater Bros. is thrilled to be honored by the EPA for the third year in a row," emphasized Jack H. Brown, Stater Bros. Markets' chairman and chief executive officer.  "We are committed to protecting our environment for future generations, and what we do now matters. We're thankful the EPA has recognized our efforts," Brown further added. "In earning GreenChill's Best Emissions Rate award for the third straight year, Stater Bros. Markets is proving itself a frontrunner in environmental protection amongst supermarkets. Stater Bros. Markets is demonstrating the possibility of achieving incredibly low emissions rates over multiple years, which benefits the company's bottom line and protects future generations," said GreenChill Program Manager, Tom Land.