Enbridge Inc. and Divert Inc.—a food waste management company expanding into renewable natural gas (RNG)—are moving forward with construction a wasted food-to-RNG plant in Longview, Wash., marking the first project to move forward under the companies’ broader $1-billion infrastructure development agreement to jointly expand RNG supply while combating climate change in their respective industries.
As part of a deal completed on Sept. 21, Enbridge and Divert will invest nearly $100 million to build the Longview Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility (IDEF), which will process up to 100,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of wasted food from retailers and other companies in Washington and Oregon and transform it into carbon-negative RNG, the companies said in separate releases.
Advancement of the Longview IDEF project follows Enbridge’s acquisition of a 10% stake in Divert for $80 million in March 2023 (OGJ Online, Mar. 1, 2023).
Leveraging Divert’s proprietary depackaging process and anaerobic digestion, the 66,000-sq ft Longview IDEF—which broke ground for construction on Sept. 7— will prevent its food waste feedstock from emitting methane in landfills to offset up to 23,000 tpy of CO2 emissions, equivalent to removing 5,000 conventional gas-powered cars from the road annually, Divert said.
The plant additionally will provide companies with actionable data to take preventative steps to waste less and donate more food that is still edible, according to Divert.
Nearly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) come from wasted food, the companies said.
“We’re excited to see Longview start construction,” said Caitlin Tessin, Enbridge’s vice-president of Strategy & Market Innovation. “Since Divert and Enbridge announced our infrastructure agreement for up to $1 billion earlier this year, Divert has continued to lead the industry in solutions to mitigate wasted food and [GHGs] across the US and is lined up to play an important role in Enbridge’s energy transition strategy.”
In addition to creating access to a new supply of emissions-free RNG to augment conventional energy sources to supply homes, businesses, and industries that are hard to electrify, the Longview IDEF also will provide companies such as retail food customers, agricultural food producers, restaurants, or food service generators with actionable data to reduce waste and increase edible food donations. The plant will also enable commercial waste generators and local jurisdictions to comply with state regulator waste laws, including Washington’s HB 1799 legislation, Washington’s Organics Management Law, and Portland Metro’s Food Scraps Policy, Enbridge and Divert said.
Scheduled for startup in 2024, the Longview IDEF brings Divert closer to delivering on its commitment to expand to 30 sites across the US to be within 100 miles of 80% of the population by 2031, the company said.
Divert—which operates 10 plants across the US working with nearly 5,400 retail stores to process more than 2.3 billion lbs of wasted food—also broke ground in April on another IDEF in Turlock, Calif. The operator also signed a 10-year RNG offtake agreement with bp PLC in late 2022 under which bp will purchase RNG from three Divert IDEFs, including the proposed Longview location, Divert said in an Oct. 6, 2022, release.
