New Generation Countdown

"We're working harder than ever to make our stores greener," says Managing Director Peter Smith. "In fact, Progressive is committed to helping to achieve an overall 40% reduction in our company's carbon footprint by 2015 (on projected growth levels), bringing our emissions back to 2006 levels."

With this goal in mind, Progressive is introducing tried and true sustainable principles to reduce the environmental footprint of all stores. New generation Countdown supermarkets will include improvements such as:

• increased use of natural light
• energy efficient refrigeration cabinets including upright freezers, with glass doors designed to prevent cool air loss to the store environment
• freezer night-blinds which hold the cold air in when the store is closed
• building management systems which reduce excessive electricity consumption
• recycling heat from refrigeration coils
• new more environmentally friendly refrigerant gases used to run the entire refrigeration and freezer requirements of the store.

In addition to these innovations, across all Countdown, Foodtown and Woolworths supermarkets we apply a pack-7 rule to reduce the number if plastic bags customers take out of our stores, offer a range of re-usable bags including a series of exclusively designed by Trelise Cooper and produce eco-friendly weekly catalogues.

Next time you visit a new generation Countdown store, take a look at some of the new design features and know that we are actively working to reduce our impact on the environment.

For a list of stores that have already been upgraded, click here.