Banana brand remains committed to sustainability with annual reduction of 17,000 tons of CO2 emissions
Fort Lauderdale, FL – October 18, 2018 – Chiquita Brands International, the world’s foremost banana purveyor, remains committed to its sustainability efforts by reducing energy consumption of its more than 15,000 40-foot container fleet. In 2009, Chiquita began a comprehensive refrigerated container upgrade program which has led to an annual reduction of 17,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
Thanks to improvements in design and operating efficiency, the new containers have several advantages:
- Less energy is required
- Equipped with greenhouse friendly refrigerants
- Insulation materials lead to a reduced emission footprint
Prior to January 2015, 7,000 units had been replaced. Between January 2015 and December 2017, 4,570 older containers were replaced with 5,700 new ones. Despite the 25 percent increase in the overall number of containers, Chiquita achieved an 11 percent reduction in electricity consumption.
The impact of this fleet renewal is substantial – with each new container, Chiquita achieves an energy savings of up to 35 percent compared to the energy spent on older containers. Even greater is the amount of energy saved with Quest software that automatically shuts down the container compressor without affecting the quality of the stored fruit.
“Looking back over these past years work with the container fleet upgrade, we can proudly say we have achieved our goal!” said Jamie Postell, Director of Sales North America for Chiquita. “We’ve saved an equivalent of the CO2 emitted by 3,000 cars per year – that’s no small feat!”
As a result of these improvements, Chiquita has achieved an electricity savings of 34 million kilowatt hours per year. In sustainability terms, this leads to an annual reduction of 17,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
About Chiquita Brands International
Chiquita is a leading global produce company employing 20,000 people across 25 countries. Serving nearly 70 countries, Chiquita provides consumers and customers with the highest quality of fruit and service, making Chiquita the banana of choice. Chiquita helps create a positive impact by implementing the principles of sustainability in all its business practices under the “Behind the Blue Sticker” initiative. Starting in the 1990s, Chiquita was the pioneer in promoting good farming practices and continues to help protect the environment and support farming communities by working under better-than-industry standard agricultural work practices. Chiquita bananas are fat-free and cholesterol-free and are a great source of potassium and vitamins.
For more information about Chiquita, visit their website at www.chiquita.com