WEST CONCORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 29, 2026--
Divert, Inc., a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted, today announced the opening of its Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility in Longview, Washington, the first of its kind in the state. The 66,000‑square‑foot facility leverages Divert’s high-recovery 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.
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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 advanced, 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,” said 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,” said 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.
“People often forget about the enormous climate impact of food production — and, by extension, food waste,” said Oregon Metro Councilor Christine Lewis. “By giving food scraps a circular-economy market option, Divert’s work elegantly addresses both halves of the equation. This is what innovation looks like.”
State leaders also emphasized the project’s impact on the regional workforce and long-term economic opportunity.
“For more than a decade, the Longview region has seen promising projects come and go, but Divert is different. It has followed through on its commitment to invest in this community,” said Heather Kurtenbach, Executive Secretary, Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council. “From the earliest stages, they partnered locally, prioritized our skilled workforce, and ensured that good-paying construction jobs stayed right here in Longview. This project demonstrates that our region’s deep industrial roots and talented workforce can once again support major manufacturing investments and help lead Washington’s climate technology future.”
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. To learn more about Divert please click here.
About Divert, Inc.
Divert is a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted through nationwide infrastructure and innovative technologies. Founded in 2007, the company provides an end-to-end solution that leverages data to prevent waste, facilitates edible food recovery to provide to people in need, and transforms unsold food products into renewable energy to power communities and fertilizers to enrich local soils. Through this integrated approach to reducing wasted food–Prevent, Provide, Power ® –Divert works with customers across the U.S. to reduce wasted food and positively impact people and the environment. For more information on Divert, Inc., please visit www.divertinc.com.
About Ara Partners
Founded in 2017, Ara Partners is a global private markets firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy. The firm invests in the middle market across three strategies: Private Equity, Infrastructure, and Energy. Ara scales commercially demonstrated decarbonization solutions, supports the businesses and infrastructure that enable their adoption, and reduces emissions at the source across the conventional energy value chain. Its model combines investing, market and policy expertise, project execution and operational optimization, and rigorous carbon accounting to reduce emissions economically and unlock growth at industrial scale. Ara operates from Houston, Boston, Dublin and Washington D.C., and, as of September 30, 2025, had approximately $6.6 billion in assets under management.
To learn more, visit www.arapartners.com.
New Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility in Longview, Washington
