Divert, Inc., a circular economy company focused on food waste prevention and resource recovery, has announced the official opening of its Integrated Diversion and Energy Facility in Longview, Washington. The 66,000-square-foot facility is the first of its kind in the state, utilising advanced depackaging technology and anaerobic digestion to transform unsold food into renewable energy and nutrient-rich soil amendments.
The launch represents a significant infrastructure expansion in the Pacific Northwest, providing a scalable solution for food retailers and manufacturers to manage organic waste while meeting increasingly stringent regional environmental regulations.
Impact on the Pacific Northwest Circular Economy
The Longview facility is engineered to capture the maximum value from non-donatable food, keeping resources within the regional economy. At full operational capacity, the plant is capable of processing up to 100,000 tons of material annually.
Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert, stated that the facility helps build a resilient food system with economic and agricultural impacts that extend well beyond the company’s immediate operations. By keeping the value of uneaten food local, the model supports energy independence and strengthens agricultural communities across Washington and Oregon.
Technical Infrastructure and Resource Recovery
The facility utilises a high-recovery depackaging system that separates food from its packaging with high purity levels. The organic material then undergoes anaerobic digestion to produce two primary high-value outputs:
Renewable Natural Gas (RNG): At capacity, the facility will generate over 235,000 MMBtu of renewable energy annually, enough to power more than 3,200 homes.
Nutrient-Rich Fertiliser: The process yields 450,000 pounds of fertiliser per year, capable of supporting the growth of approximately 225 million pounds of apples in the region’s agricultural sectors.
Carbon Abatement: The operations are expected to offset up to 23,000 metric tons of CO2e each year, assisting the states of Washington and Oregon in reaching their respective greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The facility provides a critical compliance pathway for businesses navigating the evolving regulatory landscape in the Pacific Northwest. This includes Washington’s Organics Management Law and Portland’s business food scraps requirement, both of which mandate the diversion of organic waste from landfills.
Divert has already secured partnerships with several of the region’s largest food retailers and manufacturers, including:
Albertsons and Safeway
Fred Meyer and Kroger
Reser’s Fine Foods
Danelle Macias, Senior Director of Sales and Support for Albertsons (Portland Division), emphasised that service reliability is essential for large-scale retail operations. The partnership allows Albertsons to focus on its core business while Divert manages the operational complexities of organic diversion.
Local Economic Development
A key feature of the Longview site is its proximity to essential utility infrastructure. Through an interconnection agreement with Cascade Natural Gas, the RNG produced at the facility is fed directly into existing distribution pipelines. This allows the clean energy to power local homes, businesses, and industrial users, reducing the reliance on traditional fossil fuels.
The construction and operation of the plant have also provided a boost to the local workforce. Heather Kurtenbach, Executive Secretary of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, noted that Divert followed through on its commitment to invest in the community, prioritising a skilled local workforce and ensuring high-quality industrial jobs remained in Longview.
As Divert continues to scale its "prevention first" mission, the Longview facility serves as a blueprint for how industrial roots and climate technology can converge to create a more efficient, data-driven food value chain.
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