Divert, Inc., a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted, and Fred Meyer Stores, a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., announced the expansion of their organics recycling program to support the entire Fred Meyer store footprint across the Pacific Northwest. 鈥淔red Meyer and Kroger have been valued customers of Divert for many years, and we are proud to expand our collaboration to further advance the impact of our food diversion and recovery efforts,鈥� said Ben Kuethe Oaks, VP and GM, Retail, Divert. 鈥淲ith Divert now supporting Fred Meyer across its entire store network, we are bringing increased visibility to each and every store鈥搖nlocking new opportunities for waste prevention, food donations, as well as operational efficiencies that drive meaningful cost and time savings.鈥�
Since 2018, Divert and Fred Meyer have worked together to address the wasted food crisis. In 2024 alone, the program prevented more than 5.4 million pounds of unsold food products from reaching the landfill. Now, with Divert鈥檚 organics recycling program implemented across all 105 Fred Meyer stores in Washington and Oregon, the companies are further accelerating their positive environmental and social impact.
The program utilizes Divert鈥檚 proprietary process to more efficiently聽prevent聽unsold food聽from going to the landfill, while聽keeping microplastics out of our soil.听The process聽improves聽the employee experience while also creating significant efficiencies and time savings. In addition, Divert collects actionable store-level data from its bins, providing Fred Meyer with increased visibility into opportunities to reduce waste and improve food recovery efforts. With Divert鈥檚 valuable data, Fred Meyer is able to identify patterns in unsold inventory, optimize ordering, and also improve donation opportunities to feed more people in need.
鈥淎t Fred Meyer, we are committed to sustainability and ending food waste. Our new partnership with Divert is a significant step forward in our journey towards a more sustainable future,鈥� said Todd Kammeyer, President of Fred Meyer. 鈥淏y integrating Divert鈥檚 cutting-edge food recycling technology into our stores, we are making it easier to reduce waste in our stores.鈥�