About a third of the world's food is thrown away, and a Massachusetts company is looking to turn that waste into renewable energy.
CEO Ryan Begin of Concord-based Divert says the U.S. wastes even more food in the summer than in the winter.
"In the summer, we see the largest spike, because you have highly perishable strawberries, bananas, blueberries, that are all affected by temperature," he said. "How can we move more surplus food out of the landfill into people who can actually benefit from that food?"
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Jess Parker works with the Divert team as the food recovery program manager.
"The amount of food we're wasting, then you think about the amount of need that's out there, it makes no sense," Parker said. "We're trying to move as much wasted food as possible to folks in need, first and foremost."
Divert works with 5,400 stores in all 50 states to maximize the value of unsold food by strengthening how stores donate surplus food to those who need it.
Food that can't be donated is recycled at plants across the country — including one in Freetown — to combat greenhouse gas emissions.
"We're taking wasted, inedible food from retailers, we're turning it into renewable energy through a process called anaerobic digestion," Parker said.
