GreenChill Reaches All 50 States

SN STAFF

WASHINGTON — With the recent addition of Target, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 3-1/2-year-old GreenChill partnership now has 7,000 partner stores located in all 50 states.

From regional grocers like Stater Bros. in southern California, and small health food stores like Down-to-Earth, to nationally-recognized names like Whole Foods Market and Target, the partnership now represents 20% of the supermarket industry.

Under the voluntary program, retail members set refrigerant leak reduction goals and benchmark efforts to meet them, attempt to reduce the refrigerant charge in their systems, transition to more environmentally friendly refrigerants, and test advanced refrigeration systems, sharing results with other members. EPA estimates that GreenChill partners' refrigerant emissions are 50% lower than the industry average.

If every supermarket in the nation reduced their emissions to the average GreenChill store rate of 12%, the industry would save more than $100 million in refrigerant costs alone annually, while saving the equivalent of 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 240 tons of ozone-depleting substances every year.

"GreenChill is a great example of how businesses and government can work together to protect people's health and the environment," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, in a statement.