Sprouts Farmers Market, based in Phoenix AZ, has received two more silver store certification awards from the US Environmental Protection Agency for building stores that will sharply reduce their impact on the Earth’s ozone layer and climate system.
New Sprouts stores in Thousand Oaks CA and Centennial CO have earned silver-level certification from the EPA’s GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership. The partnership enlists supermarkets to reduce refrigerant emissions that damage the ozone layer and contribute to global warming.
Sprouts now has four stores that have qualified for certification awards under GreenChill’s standards. Just 30 of the nation’s 35,000 grocery stores have qualified for certification under the GreenChill program. Other Sprouts stores with GreenChill certificates are in Carmel Mountain Ranch CA and Round Rock TX.
To achieve silver certification, a store must meet stringent environmental criteria, including:
•Use refrigerants that do not damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer.
•Reduce the size of its refrigerant charge by at least 50% from the industry average.
•Reduce annual refrigerant emissions to 15% or less of total store capacity.
•Test refrigeration systems for adherence to GreenChill’s leak tightness guidelines.
Sprouts, which has 54 stores in four states, joined the GreenChill partnership in May 2009.
In other news, Buehler Food Markets Inc has become the first Ohio-based supermarket chain to join GreenChill.
Headquartered in Wooster OH, family-owned Buehler’s opened its first store in New Philadelphia OH in 1929. The company moved to Wooster in 1932 and now has 13 locations throughout the state.
