Divert, a leading impact technology company on a mission to Protect the Value of FoodTM, announced a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge, strengthening Divert's leadership in the decarbonization of the food value chain and combating climate change as well as solving the wasted food crisis.
Divert also secured $80 million in growth equity from Enbridge and $20 million from Ara Partners.
The $1 billion infrastructure agreement will support the development of renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities across North America by converting wasted food into renewable energy. This will accelerate Divert's expansion of anaerobic digestion facilities to sustainably convert waste food into clean renewable energy, which could offset nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
It plans to expand its facilities across the U.S. to within 100 miles of 80% of the U.S. population in the next eight years. New waste food to RNG facilities in Canada are also being considered.
“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. 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.”
More than 100 million tons of food are wasted annually in the U.S., with more than 50 percent being disposed of in landfills or incinerators. Wasted food is responsible for up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. With its advanced technologies, logistics, and sustainable infrastructure, Divert has been leading the fight against this crisis since 2007.
After several major milestones and significant growth for the company, these agreements are timely. In 2022, Divert added nearly 5,400 retail stores to its customer base, and over 1,000 additional stores were already contracted for 2023. Also recently, the company signed an offtake agreement worth approximately $175 million with BP, making it the largest known RNG offtake agreement for wasted food digestion in the U.S.