Denali diverts 7M tons of material in 2024

Denali, a Russellville, Arkansas-based national collector and processor of discarded organic materials, says it diverted from landfill more than 7 million tons of organic materials in 2024, including more than 1 million tons of food waste.

The company says it played a role in managing 11 percent of the 9 million tons of food waste that was diverted from landfills in the United States last year. Those figures and others are included in the 2024 Denali sustainability report, released this month.

“Our 2024 sustainability report shows that food waste recycling is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’—it’s becoming an industry standard and business imperative,” Denali CEO Todd Mathes says.

“Denali’s work drives the circular economy and plays an important role in the food supply chain through regenerative agriculture that feeds animals, enhances farmland fertility and nutrient-rich compost, all of which reduce carbon emissions to benefit the environment."

The company partners with more than 8,000 customers in the U.S., including Walmart, NASCAR, sports venues, food manufacturing facilities, hotels, colleges, universities, health care facilities and convention centers, to collect the discarded food and food processing residuals.

One of the firm’s strategies involves the operation of what Denali calls one of the largest depackaging equipment networks in the country.

Since the start of 2024, Denali says it has processed more than 350,000 tons of material through its depackaging network. The depackaging process separates food from its packaging at scale, automating what otherwise could be a labor-intensive effort.

The company’s overall diversion activities, which also involve agribusiness, retail sector and municipal wastewater diversion, led to the creation of about 6.3 million tons of organic materials applied to farmland or used by the livestock sector in 2024, says the firm.

That total included transforming food and green waste into 1.2 million tons of compost, mulch and soils, according to Denali.

The company’s ReCirculate compost, derived from food waste, was made available in more than 600 Walmart stores nationwide last year, and Denali expects the number of stores to increase next year.

Some 12.1 million gallons of biodiesel made from used cooking oil also was produced by Denali in 2024, according to its sustainability report.