Energy giant Enbridge announced Wednesday that it will provide Concord-based greentech company Divert with $1 billion in infrastructure to scale its efforts to convert wasted food into renewable natural gas.
Divert is currently converting food into renewable biogas at two anaerobic digestion facilities in Los Angeles and Freetown, Massachusetts. The company also has eight facilities where packaged food is prepared for third-party organics processing.
With Enbridge’s $1 billion infrastructure pledge, Divert plans to build anaerobic digestion facilities in every major geographic region in the U.S. over the next eight years, according to a statement from Divert. This would put a facility within 100 miles of 80 percent of the U.S. population, Divert said.
Divert currently process roughly half a percent of the 100 million tons of annual food waste in the U.S. Once all of its new anaerobic digestion facilities come online, the company estimates it will be able to process 5 percent of the country’s wasted food, offsetting nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
“The infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge marks a major turning point in the battle against the wasted food crisis,” Divert co-founder and CEO Ryan Begin said in a statement. “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.”
In addition to the infrastructure development agreement, Divert also announced it received $100 million in equity funding. Enbridge contributed $80 million of the funding and Ara Partners — which acquired Divert in 2021 — led a funding round for the remaining $20 million.
Divert acquires unsold food from more than 5,400 retail stores, including branches of Kroger, Albertsons, CVS and Target. In addition to converting this food into renewable natural gas, Divert also uses its technology to help these retailers address issues that contribute to food waste, like storing food at the wrong temperature and prematurely throwing food away. Divert’s technology also identifies which food items should be donated to food pantries.
Last year, Divert reached a $175 million agreement with bp, which agreed to purchase renewable natural gas from three Divert facilities over the course of 10 years. This agreement with bp will offset an estimated 36,905 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to Divert.
