Organic waste recycling now available at all Fred Meyer stores in the Pacific Northwest region.
In a groundbreaking move, Divert Inc.'s organics-recycling program has made a significant impact on the grocery industry, extending beyond Fred Meyer. This innovative approach enables major retailers to convert unsold, non-donatable food into renewable energy, reducing food waste, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and improving supply chain efficiencies.
Divert, a portfolio company of Ara Partners, supports over 7,800 customer locations and has processed 3.3 billion pounds of such food, donating 14 million meals to the food insecure. This demonstrates a substantial environmental and social impact across its client base, which includes forward-thinking companies in the grocery sector and beyond.
While specific grocery chains beyond Fred Meyer are not explicitly named, the program's scalability and data integration allow multiple major retailers to meet regulatory requirements and sustainability goals. The anaerobic digestion approach is highlighted as a leading solution that removes greenhouse gases from the food value chain, making it valuable to any grocery chain aiming to reduce its carbon footprint.
Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of The Kroger Co, has been a pioneer in this initiative, with the program implemented across all 105 of its stores in Washington state and Oregon. In 2024, the program prevented over 5.4 million pounds of unsold food products from reaching landfills. This success suggests a model likely replicable or available to other chains through Divert's network.
The expanded collaboration between Fred Meyer and Divert aims to bring increased visibility to each store, unlocking new opportunities for waste prevention and food donations. With Divert's data, Fred Meyer can identify patterns in unsold inventory and optimize ordering, improving the employee experience and creating significant efficiencies and time savings.
This partnership also drives operational efficiencies and meaningful cost and time savings. Fred Meyer donates more than 5 million pounds of food annually to local food banks through its Food Rescue Program. With Divert's data, they can improve donation opportunities to feed more people in need.
Kroger, the parent company of Fred Meyer, serves more than 11 million customers daily across four western states. As the No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2025 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, Kroger's retail food stores operate under a variety of banner names. The expanded organics-recycling program supports the entire Fred Meyer store footprint across the Pacific Northwest.
PG also named Kroger among its Retailers of the Century, underscoring the company's commitment to sustainability and innovation. The program uses Divert's proprietary process to prevent unsold food from going to the landfill while keeping microplastics out of the soil. With this initiative, Divert and Fred Meyer continue to lead the way in addressing the food waste crisis.
More than 33,000 Fred Meyer associates serve customers in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state. As the program continues to grow and evolve, it promises to make a lasting impact on the grocery industry, promoting sustainability at scale and setting a new standard for waste management and environmental responsibility.
- Divert Inc.'s environmental-science approach to organics-recycling has brought sustainable-living opportunities to the food-and-drink industry, allowing major retailers to convert unsold, non-donatable food into renewable energy.
- The home-and-garden sector is also influenced by this innovative approach, as multiple major retailers use data integration to meet regulatory requirements and sustainability goals, including reducing their climate-change footprint.
- Cooking enthusiasts can benefit from this partnership as well, as improved supply chain efficiencies may lead to easier access to fresh ingredients through reduced food waste.
- With Divert's data, lifestyle decisions related to food-and-wellness may become more informed, as grocery stores can identify patterns in unsold inventory and optimize ordering, creating time savings and a better employee experience.
- The environmental-science field is further reinforced by this collaboration, as Divert's proprietary process prevents unsold food from reaching landfills and keeps microplastics out of the soil, promoting health-and-wellness and a sustainable-living future.
