Food Lion Garners Superior Goal Achievement Award

Food Lion has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2012 Superior Goal Achievement Award, in honor of the grocer's commercial refrigeration achievements by its GreenChill Partners. Food Lion officials were presented with the award on Sept. 9 during the FMI Energy & Store Development Conference in Baltimore.

The honor “reinforces Food Lion’s commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen by reducing emissions, protecting the environment and becoming more efficient as we enhance our customer shopping experience,” said Susan Sollenberger, director of energy, maintenance and equipment purchasing at Salisbury, N.C.-based Delhaize America South, which includes Food Lion stores.

The annual achievement award was bestowed in recognition of Food Lion’s meeting its GreenChill commitment for lowering refrigerant emissions.

“Food Lion has been a member of GreenChill since the partnership began in 2007,” noted Tom Land, GreenChill partnership manager. “Since then, Food Lion has continually renewed their commitment to reducing harmful refrigerant emissions. Earning a Superior Goal Achievement award is further evidence of this.”

The supermarket chain has won GreenChill’s Distinguished Partner Award and its Superior Environmental Achievement Award in the past, and has also adopted a range of technologies that save energy and reduce harmful refrigerant leaks, from GreenChill to building two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) -certified stores in both North and South Carolina. Additionally, Food Lion has more than half of the United States’ Energy Star stores, with more than 1,000 certified locations.

Salisbury-based Food Lion, a subsidiary of Delhaize America, the U.S. division of Brussels-based Delhaize Group, operates more than 1,100 supermarkets and employs about 57,000 associates in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.

EPA’s GreenChill Partnership works with supermarkets to lower refrigerant emissions and lessen their effect on the ozone layer and climate change. The partnership helps supermarkets transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, reduce harmful refrigerant emissions, and adopt greener refrigeration technologies and environmental best practices. There are now more than 8,000 GreenChill Partner stores throughout the United States.