Food waste technology company Divert is opening a new, first-of-its-kind facility in Washington State. The 66,000-square-foot expansion location in Longview, WA, will be able to process at least 100,000 tons of wasted food annually.
Divert, which opened in 2007 and operates 10 facilities across the United States, strives to play a significant role in addressing the environmental and human impacts of thrown-away food. Today, Divert works with 5,400 retail stores across the U.S. and processes more than 2.3 billion pounds of food waste yearly.
“Divert is at the forefront of the fight against wasted food, driving significant progress across the U.S., and now in a first for the state of Washington,” Ryan Begin, Divert CEO and co-founder, said in a press release.
“Leveraging 16 years of leadership and knowledge in the industry, our company is eager to support businesses across Washington and Oregon in preventing waste and complying with food waste legislation.”
“This is an important moment for Divert and the Pacific Northwest in driving transformative change for the industry and solidifying our commitment to a waste-free world,” he continued.
Photo Courtesy Divert
Washington, a state that generates more than 2.7 million tons of wasted food annually, is an important location for the company. The Evergreen State sends at least 1 million tons of that trash to landfills yearly, even though nearly half of it is still edible.
The Divert facility will accept wasted food from industrial manufacturers, agricultural producers, retailers, and restaurants. Using Divert’s proprietary de-packaging process and anaerobic digestion, the facility will then transform that waste into carbon-negative renewable energy. Additionally, the facility will provide education and actionable data to all companies to help them waste less.
Divert expects the Washington location to be in full operational mode in 2024, when it will be able to offset more than 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
The company says that’s the same as removing 5,000 fossil fuel-powered cars from the road. The Longview facility brings Divert closer to delivering on its commitment to expand from 10 to 30 facilities across the U.S. and to be within 100 miles of 80% of the population by the beginning of the next decade.
Photo Courtesy Divert
Divert has already had a huge impact across America. In June, the firm revealed that it had processed more than 1 billion tons of food waste since 2021.
“Divert has been integral in helping to divert food waste going to landfills across our retail locations and enabling us to make meaningful progress on our Recipe for Change goals,” Suzanne Long, Albertsons grocery store’s chief sustainability and transformation Officer, said in a June statement. “This industry-leading milestone is a testament to the impactful solutions Divert has pioneered to address the issue of food waste and the responsibility and opportunity we have as an industry to prioritize sustainability and mitigate our climate impact.”
For Divert, the bottom-line mission is making sure food is not wasted.
Photo Courtesy Divert
“In Divert’s 16-year history, our priority has always been to prevent wasted food and drive positive environmental impact that preserves our world for future generations,” Begin said in a press release. “… We still have important work ahead of us as an industry to accelerate that impact. Through our continued collaboration with our customers and our plans for rapid yet responsible infrastructure development over the next decade, Divert is truly poised to make a significant contribution to tackling this crisis.”
Check out the episode of the Consensus in Conversation podcast featuring Nick Whitman of Divert on Food Waste, Renewable Energy, and Impact Technology.
