Fred Meyer Broadens Organic Waste Recycling Program to All Stores in the Pacific Northwest Region
Fred Meyer Expands Organics-Recycling Program with Divert Inc., Boosting Sustainability Efforts in the Pacific Northwest
Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of The Kroger Co, has taken a significant step forward in its journey towards a more sustainable future by expanding its organics-recycling program with Divert Inc. across its entire store footprint in the Pacific Northwest.
The expanded partnership aims to reduce food waste, divert organic waste from landfills, and convert it into useful resources such as compost or renewable energy. This collaboration enhances the capacity for sustainable waste management within the region, reducing landfill burden and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Fred Meyer and The Kroger Co. are working with Divert Inc., a company specializing in technology-enabled waste diversion solutions. These solutions optimize recycling streams, facilitating higher capture rates of organics such as unsold foods or food scraps from grocery retail operations.
The program, now implemented across all 105 Fred Meyer grocery stores in Washington state and Oregon, has already made a significant impact. Since 2018, Divert and Fred Meyer have prevented over 5.4 million pounds of unsold food products from reaching landfills. In 2024 alone, this figure is expected to reach more than 5 million pounds.
The program uses Divert's proprietary process to prevent unsold food from going to the landfill while keeping microplastics out of the soil. This process also makes it easier to reduce waste in Fred Meyer stores by integrating Divert's food-recycling technology.
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. This data helps Fred Meyer identify patterns in unsold inventory, optimize ordering, and improve donation opportunities to feed more people in need.
Todd Kammeyer, president of Fred Meyer, stated that the new partnership with Divert is a significant step forward in their journey towards a more sustainable future. Kroger, the parent company of Fred Meyer, serves more than 11 million customers daily through a digital shopping experience and retail food stores under various banner names.
Divert is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private-equity firm that focuses on decarbonizing the industrial economy. This partnership unlocks new opportunities for waste prevention, food donations, and operational efficiencies that drive meaningful cost and time savings.
With this expanded program, Fred Meyer and Kroger continue to demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability. Fred Meyer operates approximately 130 multi-department stores across four western states, and as a subsidiary of Kroger, it donates more than 5 million pounds of food annually to local food banks through its Food Rescue Program.
This expanded partnership between Fred Meyer, The Kroger Co., and Divert Inc. strengthens organic recycling infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest, driving reductions in food waste and supporting environmental sustainability efforts through efficient organic waste diversion and recovery.
- As part of their commitment to environmental sustainability, Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of The Kroger Co, has partnered with Divert Inc to expand their organics-recycling program, which involves reducing food waste, diverting organic waste from landfills, and converting it into compost or renewable energy.
- The expanded program, now implemented across all 105 Fred Meyer grocery stores in Washington state and Oregon, has already prevented over 5.4 million pounds of unsold food products from reaching landfills by using Divert's proprietary process.
- In addition to reducing food waste, the collaboration between Fred Meyer and Divert Inc also aims to optimize recycling streams, reducing microplastics in the soil and providing Fred Meyer with increased visibility into opportunities to reduce waste and improve food recovery efforts through store-level data collected by Divert.
