Grocery stores transitioning from manual food separation to depackaging technology increased the volume of food diverted from landfill to recycling by an average of 70 percent, according to Denali’s 2025 Sustainability Report, based on data from more than 3,300 U.S. stores.
The Russellville, Arkansas-based company, the nation’s largest recycler of food and organics, managed 14.8 billion pounds of organic materials in 2025, including 1.35 billion pounds of uneaten food, serving more than 13,000 customer locations in 48 states and Puerto Rico and recycling 97 percent of all organics it collected.
“Businesses need a practical and cost-effective way to keep unused food out of landfills and know with confidence what happens after it’s collected,” said Denali CEO Todd Mathes. “The 2025 Sustainability Report results reinforce our focus on making food recycling a dependable part of everyday operations, with less manual work for employees and data that helps customers track their progress and improve managing inventory.”
Denali’s depack program mechanically separates unsellable food from its packaging, reducing manual labor and making diversion more practical at scale for grocers, restaurants, food manufacturers, municipalities and other food businesses. Food recycling complements prevention and donation efforts by creating renewable products from food that can no longer be consumed.
Key findings
- Denali’s ReCirculate compost, made from unsold food collected from grocery partners and sold back on store shelves, launched in January 2025 in partnership with Walmart and is now available at 1,000 U.S. stores, with sales over the past year equivalent to enriching 10,000 home gardens, per the report.
- The company created 479 million pounds of animal feed last year from high-starch byproducts collected from food manufacturers, distribution centers, bakeries and grocery stores.
- Its natural fertilizer program provided more than 15 million pounds of nitrogen to more than 500 farmers, saving them an estimated $9 million versus traditional fertilizers, as the USDA projects national fertilizer spending to rise 15.3 percent in 2026.
- Denali converted used cooking oil and grease into approximately 12.1 million gallons of biodiesel.
The full report is available at denali.com.