Divert (company)

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Divert, Inc. is an American impact technology company that works to eliminate wasted food and create sustainable infrastructure to reduce the impact of waste on the environment and society. [1] Divert works to assist the grocery industry in achieving the United Nations and US objectives of reducing waste by 50% by 2030. [2]

Contents

The West Concord, Massachusetts-company was established in June 2007 by Ryan Begin and Nick Whitman, who have since served as the CEO and COO, respectively. [3] [4] The company rebranded as Divert, Inc. in 2016, and as of 2022 had more than 250 employees serving 5,500 retail locations across the United States. [5] As of May 2024, the company has 6,600 customer locations across the US. [6] In 2024 Divert stated that they had processed more than 2.3 billion pounds of food since the company was launched in 2007. [7]

History and funding

Divert was founded in June 2007 as Feed Resource Recovery by Ryan Begin and Nick Whitman at the back of a grocery store in Burlington, Massachusetts, to help them process wasted food. [2] In April, 2012, Divert partnered with Kroger in developing a $20 million anaerobic digestion facility for 330 stores in Compton, California. [5] In 2016 they worked with Stop & Shop in establishing their second anaerobic digestion facility in Freetown, Massachusetts. [8] [9]

In 2021, Divert was acquired by Ara Partners, a global private equity firm, specializing in industrial decarbonization investments. As a part of the acquisition, Divert received $100 million in growth equity led by Ara in conjunction with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, and Ontario Power Generation. [2] In October 2022, the company announced a 10-year renewable natural gas (RNG) offtake agreement with bp worth approximately $175 million. [10] Under this agreement, bp will purchase RNG generated from three Divert facilities, which has the potential to offset 36,905 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. [7] By the end of 2022, the company expanded to more than 1,500 new retail stores, [11] bringing the total to nearly 5,400 retail stores with an additional 1,000 stores contracted for 2023. [12]

In January 2023, the company announced that Nicholas Bertram, former president of The Giant Company and the CEO and President of Flashfood had joined its advisory board as its founding member. [13] In March 2023, the company announced a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge, Inc., [14] and $100 million in growth equity from Enbridge and current investor Ara Partners. [15] The funding will go towards the development of anaerobic digesters across the U.S. to turn wasted food into renewable energy. [16]

In April 2023, the company announced the groundbreaking on its Turlock, California food waste to renewable energy facility. Once fully operational in 2024, the facility should process 100,000 tons of wasted food each year. California State Treasurer Fiona Ma attended the groundbreaking ceremony and emphasized how Divert fits into the state’s climate goals and new organic waste legislation. [17] In September 2023, the company announced the groundbreaking on its Longview, Washington food waste to renewable energy facility, the first to be established in the state. The facility is projected to be able to process 100,000 tons of wasted food from Washington and Oregon into carbon-negative renewable energy annually. [18]

Products and services

Divert uses advanced technologies and sustainable infrastructure to address food waste, providing technology, logistics and anaerobic digestion facilities to help food retailers across the U.S. reach their sustainability goals. [19] Divert utilizes Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to allow retailers to track their food waste on a monthly basis. [20] Another core part of Divert’s solution is anaerobic digestion. Unsold wasted food is processed to remove packaging before moving to Divert’s anaerobic digesters to be turned into renewable energy. [21]

As of February 2024 the company has 13 operational facilities across 25 states, and processed more than 384 million pounds of waste in 2023. [22] In 2023 alone, Divert facilitated the donation of 200,000 meals more meals compared to 2022. [22]

Customers and partnerships

As of May 2024, Divert works with over 6,600 customer locations across the US, [6] with customers such as Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Target, [23] CVS, Kroger, [24] and Safeway. [17]

In June 2022, Divert launched a waste food recycling program with Giant Food, part of the Ahold Delhaize family of companies, to reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfill. The program has since expanded to 165 Giant Food stores across DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. [25] In July 2023, the companies announced that more than 30.8 million pounds of wasted food had been processed during the first year of their partnership, which would have been responsible for over 1,400 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). [26]

The company has partnerships with food banks and food recovery programs, such as the Central California Food Bank in Fresno, California, [27] Feeding America Riverside San Bernardino in Riverside, California, [28] and Second Harvest of the Greater Valley in Manteca, California. [29]

For the Central California Food Bank, between 2018 and April 2023, Divert had sent nearly eight million pounds of food. [30] West Coast-based CVS drug stores account for a significant percentage of this total, [31] which typically deliver 400 large bins of food a week to the food bank a partner organization. [30]

In April 2024, Divert’s customer Kroger announced significant progress with its "Zero Hunger, Zero Waste" commitment, stating that it had achieved its objective of launching food waste recycling programs in 95% of their stores two years early. [32]

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References

  1. ↑ Strailey, Jennifer (15 August 2023). "Transforming food waste to gains: A conversation with Divert CEO Ryan Begin". ThePacker. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Pressman, Aaron (24 October 2022). "Concord startup is diverting supermarket food waste to generate clean power". The Boston Globe, accessed via chlpi.org. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "Ryan Begin". Forbes. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  4. ↑ "No Time to Waste, featuring Nick Whitman '97". Middlebury Magazine. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  5. 1 2 Brody, Liz (November 22, 2022). "A Machine That Turns Rotten Groceries Into Energy? Meet the Guys Making Waste Useful". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Divert, Inc. Announces Harrison, Ohio, as the Site of a Future Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility". Redi Cincinnati. 20 May 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Company that transforms discarded food into energy looking at Jacksonville". Jacksonville Daily Record. 22 January 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  8. ↑ Cabrey, Erin (16 February 2023). "How Divert has helped save 220,000 tons of waste from retailers". Retail Brew. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  9. ↑ Gallerani, Kathryn. "New food waste limits have businesses scrambling. This Freetown facility is here to help". SouthCoast Today. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  10. ↑ Vinoski, Jim (19 October 2022). "With New BP Deal, Divert Steps $175 Million Closer To Solving The Wasted Food Problem". Forbes . Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Perez, Miranda (25 August 2022). "Divert Is Actively Hiring Amid Growing Demand for Its Food Waste Tech". Builtinboston.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  12. ↑ "Divert, Inc. Announces Transformative $1 Billion Infrastructure Development Agreement With Enbridge Inc., Solidifying its Leadership in Solving the Wasted Food Crisis". Tmcet.com. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  13. ↑ "Nicholas Bertram". Forbes Business Council. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  14. ↑ Groom, Nichola (1 March 2023). "Enbridge commits $1 billion to company turning food waste to energy". Reuters. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  15. ↑ "Converting wasted food into renewable energy". Wall Street Journal via Enbridge.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  16. ↑ Orland, Kevin (1 March 2023). "Enbridge Eyes $1 Billion in Food-Waste-to-Gas Projects". Bloomberg . Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  17. 1 2 Correa, Christopher (29 April 2023). "Breaking ground in Turlock". Turlock Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  18. ↑ Gaetjens, Bob (11 September 2023). "Divert breaks ground on Washington renewable energy facility". Waste Today Magazine. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  19. ↑ "The world needs to embrace a suite of solutions": Divert on food waste and climate change". Future Power Technology. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  20. ↑ "Major Grocery Retailer Leverages Divert's RFID Tracking and Technology, Sees 9% Reduction in Wasted Food". Divertinc.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  21. ↑ "The world needs to embrace a suite of solutions": Divert on tackling food waste and climate change". Power-technology.com. 16 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  22. 1 2 Paisley, Daisy (8 February 2024). "Divert, Inc.: Pioneering the fight against food waste and bolstering sustainability". Noah News. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  23. ↑ "CEO of company focused on reducing food waste to headline OPS 2023". Organicgrower.info. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  24. ↑ Brody, Liz (22 November 2022). "A Machine That Turns Rotten Groceries Into Energy? Meet the Guys Making Waste Useful". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  25. ↑ "Giant Food and Divert, Inc. Process 30.8 Million Pounds of Wasted Food in First Year of Collaboration". Waste360.com. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Strailey, Jennifer (25 July 2023). "Giant Food and Divert process 30.8 million pounds of wasted food". ThePacker. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  27. ↑ "How One Food Bank is Sourcing Hard-to-Find Food". Foodbanknews.org. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  28. ↑ "Divert, Inc. Releases Statement Supporting the Biden-Harris Administration's Initiative to Take Action on the Hunger Crisis and Food Insecurity". Associated Press. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  29. ↑ "This vacant Turlock field soon will turn food waste into renewable energy for homes". The Modesto Bee. 27 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  30. 1 2 "How One Food Bank is Sourcing Hard-to-Find Food". Foodbanknews.org. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  31. ↑ "How we're investing in our planet". CVS Health. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  32. ↑ Gonzalez, Aaron (1 April 2024). "Kroger marks Earth Month with sustainability initiatives". ThePacker. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
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