Episodes > Season 4
Episode 180
09.29.2026

#180 – From Food Waste to Renewable Energy with Divert

Hosted by Lisa Ann Pinkerton

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#180 – From Food Waste to Renewable Energy with Divert

Hosted by Lisa Ann Pinkerton

In this episode of Earthlings 2.0, we speak with Ben Kuethe Oaks, Senior Vice President, Commercial at Divert, about building a more circular approach to food waste. Divert works with grocery retailers and other food businesses to track unsold food, prevent waste, increase food donations, and process food that can no longer be eaten through anaerobic digestion. 

Check out our previous episodes on food waste and agriculture:

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Talking Points

  • Preventing food waste starts with understanding where it happens – Divert collects data on unsold food from individual stores and shares those insights with retailers, helping them identify trends, improve ordering and merchandising, increase donations, and ultimately prevent more food from becoming waste. 
  • Food that can’t be donated can still become a valuable resource – Divert uses proprietary de-packaging technology and anaerobic digestion to process unsold food that can no longer be eaten, capturing methane to generate renewable energy and recovering nutrients for use as fertilizer or soil amendments. 
  • Building alternatives to landfills can help create a more circular food system – Ben explains that limited infrastructure has historically made it difficult to manage commercial food waste at scale. Divert is expanding integrated diversion and energy facilities that give food businesses another option while generating data to help prevent future waste.

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