Divert Breaks Ground on North Carolina Facility to Help Retailers Reduce Food Waste
Divert, Inc., a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted, has broken ground on April 30 on its Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility in Lexington, N.C., addressing a critical need for infrastructure to combat the wasted food crisis in the southeast United States.
“It is fitting that today’s groundbreaking falls on Stop Food Waste Day, as we continue to scale our infrastructure to advance a circular food system nationwide — and now in North Carolina,” said Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Concord-Mass.-based Divert. “We know that this community shares our vision for advancing sustainability and circularity, and we welcome the opportunity to bring significant social, environmental, and economic benefits to the region.”
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With the development of its Integrated Diversion & Energy Facilities, Divert now provides an end-to-end solution that prevents wasted food, facilitates edible food recovery to feed people in need, and transforms unsold food products into beneficial products. In doing so, Divert is recouping the value in unsold food by producing renewable energy, preventing it from going to landfill and creating harmful methane emissions, while also returning the nutrients in food back to the earth to support further food growth — advancing a circular food system.
The facility will employ around 60 individuals and have the capacity to process 100,000 tons of unsold food products a year from food retailers, warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing locations.
“Harris Teeter is proud to support Divert and its transformative approach to preventing wasted food,” said Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter, a Kroger-owned grocery banner. “Through Divert’s innovative technology, Harris Teeter has removed more than 40 million pounds of food and packaging from the waste stream in the last year. This effort creates more sustainable practices in the food supply chain and allows Harris Teeter to live its purpose: Enriching Lives – one meal, one family, one associate and one community at a time.”
“This groundbreaking marks the beginning of something truly meaningful,” added Jason Brown, former National Football League lineman and founder of First Fruits Farm in Louisburg, N.C. “Divert is creating a pathway for sustainable change that supports farmers and strengthens our fight against hunger in North Carolina. I’m honored to stand with them in this mission.”
According to Divert, North Carolina generates more than 2.6 million tons of wasted food in a year. Yet nearly 1.5 million North Carolinians are food insecure. Divert is tackling this problem nationwide and now striving to bridge this gap in the southeast — converting unsold food products into carbon-negative renewable energy, and soil amendment.
In 2024, Divert opened its first Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility in Turlock, Calif. The company plans to scale to 30 facilities across the country, including in Washington and Ohio.
Divert, which was founded in 2007, is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity firm that is decarbonizing the industrial economy.
