Divert, Inc. has opened an integrated diversion and energy facility in Longview, Washington, the first of its kind in the state. 

The 66,000-sq.-ft. facility leverages Divert’s depackaging technology and anaerobic digestion to process unsold food and organic materials into renewable energy and nutrient-rich fertilizers that support further food growth in the region. At full capacity, the facility will be capable of processing up to 100,000 tons of unsold, non-donatable food annually.

The facility expands clean energy and organics diversion infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest, creating a circular system that captures the value from uneaten food and keeps it in the regional economy. At capacity, the facility will transform the material it receives into over 235,000 MMBtu of renewable energy and 450,000 pounds of nutrient-rich fertilizer annually – enough to power over 3,200 homes and support the growth of 225 million pounds of apples. 

Divert’s facility helps bring Washington and Oregon closer to their goals to reduce wasted food and greenhouse gas emissions by offsetting up to 23,000 metric tons of CO2e each year through its operations. This purpose-built infrastructure will have impacts across the food value chain, from sending data upstream to facilitate source reduction and edible food recovery, to setting a new standard for downstream purity in land-applied soil amendments derived from food materials.

“The Longview facility will help build a more resilient, circular food system in the Pacific Northwest with energy, agriculture and economic impacts well beyond our operations,” says Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert. “Across the country, waste systems are becoming more complex and disposal is moving farther from where material is generated. We need solutions that keep value local. Our model is proven to increase food donation, recover energy and return nutrients back into the regional economy in an efficient, scalable way. That supports compliance, strengthens agricultural communities and advances greater energy independence.”

Through the new facility, Divert provides its integrated services to some of the largest food retailers and manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, including Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Kroger, Reser’s Fine Foods, Safeway and more, while a partnership with Feeding America helps to optimize donation opportunities to people facing hunger in the local community. 

“Our partnership with Divert and the new Longview facility give us an integrated organics diversion solution in the region we can rely on,” says Danelle Macias, senior director of sales and support for Albertsons, Portland Division. “Service reliability is essential to our business, and this is the kind of partnership where the operational details are taken care of so we can focus on servicing our customers and communities.”  

The facility also supports businesses navigating an expanding landscape of organics regulations, including Washington's Organics Management Law and Portland’s business food scraps requirement, that require companies to divert organic waste from landfills.

Longview, a major industrial region for the Pacific Northwest, offers close proximity to utilities capable of receiving renewable natural gas. Through an interconnection agreement with Cascade Natural Gas, RNG from the facility is fed directly into the existing distribution pipeline to power homes, businesses and hard-to-electrify industries in the area. 

Divert is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity, infrastructure and energy firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy.