Every year, about 35% of the US food supply goes to waste. About half of that is due to picky eaters or oversized restaurant portions, but the rest is upriver, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, with about 6% to 13% in grocery stores.
For grocery stores, which operate on very small margins, that loss is significant. The environmental cost is also large: losses at grocery stores and other food retailers in the US account for between 10 and 20 million metric tons of carbon pollution per year. That’s as many as some entire countries, like Kenya or Guatemala.
A big part of the carbon problem from food waste happens in the landfill. There, the microbes break down the food anaerobically, that is, without oxygen. That process releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide for 20 years. Landfills can capture methane and burn it, using it to produce energy, for example.
Burning the methane transforms it into carbon dioxide and some other pollutants. While the pollution load is not ideal, from a climate perspective it is probably better than the alternative. just about one fifth of all US landfills capture the gas; the rest just let it seep into the atmosphere.
Part of the problem with landfill gas is that it can be difficult to capture. If you’ve ever seen a landfill, you probably understand why. They’re not exactly precision machines.
However, intercepting food waste before it reaches the landfill changes the equation. That’s where Divert hopes to step in.
The company, founded in 2007, works with supermarket chains such as Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Kroger, Safeway and Target to address the problem. It begins by analyzing a store’s waste stream and suggesting ways to minimize waste in the first place.
