We’re proud to have played our part in an industry collaboration that has taken out the FMG Sustainable Innovation Award at the 2026 Horticulture New Zealand Industry Awards.
The award recognises the Kiwifruit Postharvest Industry Refrigerant Decarbonisation Project – a collaborative initiative involving Apata, Trevelyan’s and DMS through G4 Kiwi Supply, alongside Seeka and Hume Pack-N-Cool.
Video by Stoke Films.
Refrigeration is a huge part of the kiwifruit postharvest industry, but much of the sector still relies on ageing infrastructure and refrigerant gases with a high global warming potential. Replacing or upgrading these systems is a significant technical and financial challenge – and one that makes far more sense to tackle together.
Launched in 2024, the project set out to find practical, commercially viable ways to reduce the environmental impact of refrigeration across New Zealand’s kiwifruit cool chain. Supported by $1.75 million in combined government and industry funding, pilot upgrades have already been completed across 29 refrigeration systems, reducing potential emissions by more than 17,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
For us at Apata, that’s what makes this project particularly exciting. It’s not sustainability as a box-ticking exercise – it’s the industry working together to solve a very real problem and coming up with solutions that can make a measurable difference.
We’re proud to have contributed through G4 Kiwi Supply and to work alongside some great people and businesses across our industry. Congratulations to everyone involved, and thanks to MPI, Cool-Safe, Deta Consulting and the wider project team for helping turn a big challenge into genuine progress.
There’s plenty more work to do, but projects like this show just how much can be achieved when our industry tackles the big issues together.