Dive Brief:
- Divert celebrated the opening of its Longview, Washington, anaerobic digestion facility on Wednesday. The facility is designed to depackage and process up to 100,000 tons of organic waste annually at full capacity.
- The 66,000-square-foot facility is expected to help food waste generators meet Washington's Organics Management Law and Portland, Oregon's commercial food scraps diversion requirements.
- The company continues to focus on expansion, including through new financial partners. Earlier in April, it announced the opening of a series C funding round led by Mitsubishi Partners, which valued Divert at more than $1 billion, per a news release.
Dive Insight:
Divert CEO and co-founder Ryan Begin said the Longview facility provides a local, circular solution for food waste in Washington. The state has been steadily increasing organic waste diversion requirements. In 2026, businesses with access to compost or anaerobic digestion facilities that generate at least 96 gallons of organic waste each week must divert the material. That threshold ratcheted down from a four cubic yards per week threshold implemented a year prior.
"Our model is proven to increase food donation, recover energy, and return nutrients back into the regional economy in an efficient, scalable way. That supports compliance, strengthens agricultural communities, and advances greater energy independence,” Begin said in a statement.
The Longview facility began injecting gas into the pipeline on April 9, CFO Brad Lukow told Waste Dive during an interview this month. Longview is the second integrated depackaging and digestion facility Divert has opened, following its Turlock, California, plant in December 2024. The company is also building a facility in North Carolina and is finalizing another site in Ohio.
Each facility is designed to process 100,000 tons of organic waste each year by depackaging it and converting it into renewable natural gas and digestate. The Longview facility is expected to generate up to 235,000 mmBtus of RNG, which will be injected into piplines through an interconnection agreement with Cascade Natural Gas. It’s also expected to generate 450,000 pounds of fertilizer from digestate.
As part of the funding agreement, Mitsubishi secured first rights for gas offtake at future Divert facilities beyond the North Carolina facility. BP previously secured an offtake agreement for Divert's existing plants.
"It's meaningful to recognize what the company has created, and that we're positioned very well to grow out the scale of this business profitably in the RNG-integrated plants," Lukow said.
Divert has also partnered with several significant financial backers as it's built out its growing network of facilities. Private equity fund Ara Partners continues to have a controlling stake in the company, which it acquired in 2021, and Mitsubishi acquired equity through the deal.
Canadian pipeline and energy company Enbridge announced a $1 billion commitment to Divert that helped get the company's Longview plant up and running, Lukow said. That company also owns a 10% stake in Divert.
With Divert’s latest funding round open, Lukow said other infrastructure funds are circling as potential investors. Bringing Mitsubishi on as a partner positions Divert well to attract additional capital, he said.
Lukow joined the company a year ago during a period in which Divert's C-suite saw multiple changes. He said the leadership has coalesced well under the direction of Begin and the company's board.
"We want to make sure we've built out the professional executive team to drive what we know we can get done, which is profitable growth at scale," Lukow said. "The team is, I think, doing a really good job."
