Enbridge inks $1B infrastructure development agreement with Divert Inc.

Divert Inc., announced a $1-billion infrastructure development agreement with Enbridge Inc., solidifying the company’s leadership in solving the wasted food crisis and delivering on its mission to decarbonize the food value chain and combat climate change.

In addition, Divert secured $80 million in growth equity from Enbridge and also $20 million led by current investor Ara Partners.

A transformative investment for the industry, the $1 billion infrastructure agreement will support the development of wasted food to renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities across North America. This will accelerate Divert’s expansion of anaerobic digestion facilities to sustainably convert wasted food into clean renewable energy, with the potential to offset up to nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Divert plans to scale its facilities to every major geographic region in the U.S. to be within 100 miles of 80 per cent of the U.S. population in the next eight years. New wasted food to RNG facilities will also be considered for Canada.

“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.”

“Enbridge’s agreement with Divert represents a historic commitment from the company in advancing technologies and solutions that achieve a cleaner energy future,” said Caitlin Tessin, vice-president strategy and market innovation, Enbridge. “Divert has emerged as a leader in creatively managing wasted food and our partnership aligns with Enbridge’s priorities in pioneering RNG as an effective solution to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

The U.S. alone generates more than 100 million tons of wasted food annually, with over 50 per cent going to landfills or incinerators. Moreover, wasted food contributes up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2007, Divert has been leading the fight in taking on this crisis, delivering meaningful social and environmental impact for its stakeholders through its advanced technologies, logistics, and sustainable infrastructure.

“We are fortunate to have amazing national retail and funding partners supporting our journey to transform the food value chain,” said Nick Whitman, co-founder and COO, Divert. “Enbridge shares our vision to build data-centric, transformational infrastructure to combat wasted food, generate renewable energy, and strengthen our communities and environment.”

The agreements come on the heels of significant growth and several major milestones for the company. Divert expanded its retail customer base by nearly 35 per cent in 2022 to include nearly 5,400 retail stores, with over 1,000 additional stores already contracted in 2023. The company also recently signed an offtake agreement with bp worth approximately $175 million, marking one of the largest known RNG offtake agreements for wasted food digestion in the U.S.