Divert’s Lexington facility is expected to serve more than 2,500 retail grocery locations and 20 retail distribution centers across the region by the end of 2026. Additionally, the company will responsibly process unsold food, food byproducts and residuals from food manufacturers and other businesses across the Southeast.

“The success of Divert’s Circularity Platform is driven by our employees and rooted in our customer base” says Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert. “The strong customer relationships we have built over the past 20 years are what allow us to invest in regional infrastructure, including our new facility here in Lexington.”

Harris Teeter is among the anchor customers served by Divert’s Lexington integrated diversion and energy facility, which will support all of the retailer’s locations.

“At Harris Teeter, our purpose is to enrich lives, one meal, one family, one associate and one community at a time,” says Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter. “We believe food serves its highest purpose when it is feeding people. When food can no longer be donated, our partnership with Divert helps us find a productive use for it, reducing waste and protecting the value of food across the communities we serve.”

In addition to Harris Teeter, the facility will also serve select locations for Publix, UNFI and other customers across the region.

At full capacity, the Lexington facility will be capable of processing up to 120,000 tons of unsold, non-donatable food annually from food retailers, distribution centers, warehouses and manufacturing locations. Renewable natural gas, which is injected directly into local pipeline infrastructure, is already being produced at the Divert facility from unsold food in the area. 

The facility will also be capable of producing Divert food-derived fertilizers, including OMRI-listed organic options for use in organic food production. Divert’s technology also provides customers with actionable data to help prevent wasted food and increase donations before unsold food reaches the facility.

“North Carolina represents the fourth largest food and beverage industry in the United States and ranks eighth nationally in agricultural production,” Begin says. “This makes Lexington an ideal location for advancing circularity in our food system, and this facility will allow us to serve more businesses, keep more food out of landfills, and recover valuable resources that can be put back to productive use.”

Divert’s Lexington facility is part of the company’s vertically integrated Circularity Platform, through which Divert develops, owns and operates regional infrastructure to prevent wasted food and recover valuable resources from food that can no longer be donated. The model combines data and technology to help customers prevent waste, facilitates edible food recovery to support local hunger relief, and transforms remaining unsold food into renewable energy, fertilizer and reclaimed water.

The Lexington facility is the latest addition to Divert’s growing national infrastructure, following the opening of its facility in Longview, Washington, earlier this year.

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