Aldi Signs On as EPA GreenChill Partner

Aldi has become the latest retailer to join the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Partnership, which works to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.

“It’s partnerships like this that allow us to further our progress toward achieving sustainable business operations,” said Aldi VP Aaron Sumida. “We strive to minimize the impact of our coolants and their global warming potential by switching to more environmentally friendly alternatives, and the GreenChill Partnership is a testament to how committed we are to doing so.”

The GreenChill Partnership, added Sumida, further underscores the Batavia, Ill.-based retailer's commitment to being environmentally friendly in its operations across its entire business.

In addition to the partnership commitment, two Aldi stores in Webster and West Carthage, N.Y., were recently awarded the GreenChill Platinum certification, which is EPA's highest level, awarded to stores that use only non-ozone-depleting refrigerants.

GreenChill’s store certification program for food retailers recognizes individual stores for using environmentally friendlier commercial refrigeration systems. Relative to a similarly sized average supermarket, together, these two stores are expected to avoid annual refrigerant emissions equivalent to an estimated 323 metric tons of carbon dioxide -- equal to removing 68 passenger vehicles from the road.

According to Tom Land, EPA’s GreenChill manager, Aldi's participation marks "the beginning of a partnership that is going to help us reduce harmful refrigerant emissions, protect the ozone layer and world’s climate system, cut costs for supermarkets and consumers, and protect our health and the environment."

Aldi operates nearly 1,500 US stores in 32 states.