Food Lion Receives 2019-2020 GreenChill Store Re-Certification Honor from U.S. EPA

SALISBURY, N.C., Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food Lion has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2019-2020 GreenChill Store Re-Certification Excellence recognition for its store located in Southport, N.C. The EPA awarded this honor to the local Food Lion store for achieving five Platinum-level certifications in a row for its advanced commercial refrigeration system.

The Platinum-level certification is the highest-level certification within GreenChill’s program.

The Southport store is one of two Food Lion locations currently certified as part of GreenChill’s Store Certification Program. The second location is in Columbia, S.C.

GreenChill is an EPA partnership program with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change. The GreenChill Store Certification Program recognizes individual grocery stores that install refrigeration systems that prove more environmentally friendly. When GreenChill was started in 2007, Food Lion was one of the 10 founding partners.

"Receiving the GreenChill Store Re-certification Excellence recognition is an honor,” said James Schubert, store manager of the Southport, N.C. Food Lion. “The continued recognition by GreenChill shows Food Lion's commitment to reducing our environmental impact in the towns and cities we serve.”

The Southport, N.C. Food Lion has an advanced refrigeration system designed to reduce the store’s impact on the environment. The system uses CO2, which is a natural refrigerant that has zero ozone depletion potential and a very low global warming potential. The store has earned platinum certification every year since opening in 2015.

One way to achieve the Platinum-level certification is to use low global warming potential refrigerants approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program that have zero ozone-depleting potential.

As part of its commitment to caring for its neighbors and our planet, Food Lion has routinely set and achieved many sustainability goals. Earlier this year, Food Lion became the only U.S. company to receive the EPA Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for 19 years consecutively. Food Lion also has industry-leading sustainable sourcing standards, increased recycling to divert more waste from landfills and has donated the equivalent of more than 300 million meals through its pioneering Food Lion Feeds food rescue effort, through which food gets donated to local hunger relief organizations and 30 food banks across the grocer’s 10-state footprint before it perishes to feed neighbors in need.

About Food Lion
Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., since 1957, has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 68,000 associates. By leveraging its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations, Food Lion is working to own the easiest full shop grocery experience in the Southeast, anchored by a strong commitment to affordability, freshness and the communities it serves. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has donated more than 500 million meals to individuals and families since 2014 and has committed to donate 1 billion more meals by 2025. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com.

About GreenChill
For more information on EPA’s GreenChill Program, please visit www.epa.gov/greenchill.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3d94f2c0-431c-437a-8010-b47ee3f7e607

Contact: Kelly Powell
219-742-7053
Kelly.powell@foodlion.com