Staay Food Group of Dronten in the Netherlands has specialised in the global production and processing of vegetables and fruit since 1946. Staay employs more than 3000 people and currently builds an all-in-one city farming, vegetable processing and cooling facility.
"Products are refrigerated immediately after their harvest and remain refrigerated while being further processed within the company. All this is being done in a way that is completely sustainable" says Mr Niels Vlasbom of Staay Food Group. “Staay chose to cool with CO2, a natural refrigerant”, explains Peter Staal of Advansor and continues “many entrepreneurs are not familiar with the possibilities of CO2 refrigeration, but in countries with temperate climates like the Netherlands, CO2 refrigeration works fine and the total installation costs are also lower”. In order to prevent further global warming, governments struck deals to phase out chemical refrigerants, the real impact of which will start in 2020. From this time onwards companies will have to switch to natural refrigerants. Therefore, by installing CO2 refrigeration systems, Staay Food Group is making a decision which is future proof and investing in sustainability.
The complete installation has a power of 3,5 MW. Compare that to the average supermarket with a refrigeration power of 100 kW"