Longview food-waste digester opens with jobs and gas pipeline link
Divert’s new Longview facility opened in late April, with Ecology saying it could create 30 to 40 jobs and feed renewable gas into Cascade Natural Gas’s system.
Longview has a new industrial project on the books: Divert’s Integrated Diversion & Energy Facility has opened in the city, turning unsold food waste into biogas that can be upgraded into renewable natural gas.
The opening matters locally for two reasons. Washington State Department of Ecology says the project is expected to create 30 to 40 jobs in the Longview area. The facility is also tied into a broader utility and pipeline setup that sends upgraded gas into Cascade Natural Gas’s system offsite, linking the plant to local energy infrastructure as well as waste handling.
What the Longview facility does
In plain terms, the plant takes in unsold food waste and processes it through anaerobic digestion. That is an industrial method that breaks down organic material without oxygen. The process creates biogas, which can then be upgraded into renewable natural gas.
That makes the Longview project more than a standard composting or disposal site. It is designed as both a waste-recovery operation and an energy project, which helps explain why state regulators have been involved.
Why regulators are involved
The Department of Ecology’s project page identifies the Longview facility as a permitted industrial food-recovery site and ties it to environmental oversight. The agency also says the project is expected to support 30 to 40 jobs in the area, though that is a projected range rather than a confirmed headcount.
For Longview residents, that puts the plant at the intersection of two local issues that often come up in city and county planning: industrial development and environmental compliance. Facilities like this depend on permits, utility coordination, and ongoing oversight before they can operate at scale.
How much material it can handle
Waste Dive reported that the Longview plant is designed to process up to 100,000 tons of organic waste a year. That is a significant amount for a single site and helps show why the opening is relevant to haulers, nearby businesses, and industrial watchers who track where food waste goes after it leaves stores, distributors, and other generators.
The reported scale also suggests the facility could play a noticeable role in regional organics handling, even if it does not solve waste disposal or energy issues on its own.
What Longview should watch next
For Longview, the main near-term questions are practical ones: how quickly the plant ramps up, whether the expected jobs materialize, and how the utility-side work connected to Cascade Natural Gas’s system proceeds.
Residents do not need to follow the technical details to see why the project matters. It brings another industrial employer into the city, adds a new use to the local economy, and connects Longview to a growing segment of the waste-diversion and renewable gas market.
For workers, haulers, and business owners, the opening is a sign that Longview is part of that larger industrial shift rather than just a place where waste is handled. The facility is now open, and the next stage will be watching how it performs in practice.
