March 6, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Founded in 2007, Divert is a Massachusetts-based impact tech company on a mission to Protect the Value of Food™. 

Through the creation of advanced technologies and sustainable infrastructure, Divert drives positive social and environmental change through its end-to-end solution that prevents waste by maximizing food freshness, recovering edible food for communities in need, and converting wasted food into renewable energy. 

In support of such an important mission, Divert announced a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge Inc. – a diversified energy company and early investor in North American renewable energy looking to build modern energy infrastructure, resilient communities, and reliable energy to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy systems. 

In addition, Enbridge committed $80 million in growth equity to Divert along with another $20 million investment led by existing Divert investor Ara Partners. 

This investment, which is being noted as transformative, will support the development of food waste-to-renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities across North America, expanding a network that will accelerate Divert’s anaerobic digestion capacity for converting food waste into clean energy with the potential to offset nearly 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. 

This strategic expansion will involve every major geographic region in the U.S., eventually having a presence within 100 miles of 80 percent of the U.S. population within eight years. 

Considerations are also in play to build new food waste-to-RNG facilities across Canada. 

“The infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge marks a major turning point in the battle against the wasted food crisis,” said Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder, Divert. “For 16 years Divert has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent wasted food nationwide and this new funding will serve as a catalyst to address this pervasive problem at scale.”

Begin continued, “As one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure companies, Enbridge will play a critical role in the continued development of our transformative technologies and infrastructure.”

At a time when one in seven Americans is food insecure, 52 million tons of food ends up in a landfill, not counting another 10 million tons of food that is left in fields discarded or unharvested each year. 

One-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never consumed, and food accounts for the most common material present in landfills or material being incinerated, at 24 and 22 percent respectively, according to the report From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in November 2021. 

Divert also noted that the U.S. alone generates more than 100 million tons of food waste per year, with more than half of that volume ending up in landfills or incinerators. 

This wasted food translates to a litany of “wasted” agricultural land, water, inputs, and energy – not to mention food waste accounts for up to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions released in its production and degradation to the environment and biodiversity.

For 25 years Divert has been working to address this crisis, and this agreement is being announced on the heels of notable growth and several achieved milestones for the company. 

In 2022, the company expanded its retail customer base by almost 35 percent, including 5,400 retail stores with more than 1,000 additional stores already contracted for 2023. It also recently forged an offtake agreement with bp worth approximately $175 million, representing one of the largest agreements of its kind in the U.S. 

“We are fortunate to have amazing national retail and funding partners supporting our journey to transform the food value chain,” said Nick Whitman, co-founder and COO, Divert. “Enbridge shares our vision to build data-centric, transformational infrastructure to combat wasted food, generate renewable energy, and strengthen our communities and environment.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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