In the United States (US), Generate Capital, a leading investor, owner and operator of critical infrastructure, has announced the 100 percent sale of Generate Upcycle “Upcycle”, its global anaerobic digestion (AD) platform, through two separate transactions in North America and the UK. Pinta Energy Ltd and Vanguard Renewables to acquire separate portions of 12-site platform across the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Generate Upcycle is a renewable natural gas (RNG) and electricity production platform that provides integrated organic waste solutions to public and private-sector partners across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Generate Capital has invested in anaerobic digestion (AD) since 2016, building Upcycle into one of the largest pure-play organic waste platforms, with 12 facilities across three countries.
Generate Upcycle has built one of the strongest food waste-based anaerobic digestion operations in North America, said Bill Caesar, President of Generate Upcycle.
Through sustained investment in the platform, its management team, and operations, Generate Capital helped build businesses with strong operating track records that are well positioned for continued growth in their respective markets.
In 2025, Upcycle processed more than 871,000 tonnes of food and agricultural waste, and generated more than 365,000 MWh of renewable energy, including 1.1 billion cubic feet of RNG.
As a result, the company avoided 609,739 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) emissions from escaping into the atmosphere.
Pinta Energy and Vanguard Renewables
Pinta Energy Ltd, a UK-based renewable energy platform and part of the ABIO Group of companies, a leading pan-European biogas platform backed by Asterion Industrial Partners, has acquired Upcycle’s seven UK facilities.
Vanguard Renewables, a leading US environmental services platform and producer of biomethane from organic waste, has signed an agreement to acquire Upcycle’s five North American facilities in Ontario, Canada, and upstate New York.
The transactions are expected to close on October 1, 2026, subject to customary closing terms and conditions.
According to Generate Capital, the transactions position the businesses with strategic operators to support their next phase of growth.
We have spent the past decade building Upcycle into a scaled organic waste platform with strong businesses across three countries. Pinta Energy and Vanguard Renewables bring the experience and capabilities to support these businesses as they continue to grow. For Generate, the transactions allow us to recycle capital toward our strategy of delivering reliable power to large energy users in an increasingly constrained grid, said David Crane, CEO of Generate Capital.
Expansive resource recovery market
For Vanguard Renewables, the transaction is a response to broader shifts across the resource recovery market.
Food waste remains one of North America’s largest untapped resource recovery opportunities, with the US alone generating over 70 million tonnes annually.
As landfill capacity constraints grow, corporate sustainability commitments expand, and organics diversion policies continue to emerge, demand is increasing for solutions that keep organic material out of landfills and put it to productive use.
Recovering more of that material not only reduces methane emissions associated with landfill disposal but also creates RNG and other beneficial resources.
As demand for low-carbon fuels grows, RNG derived from organic waste is becoming increasingly valued across regulated, voluntary, and transportation markets.
Upon closing, Generate Upcycle’s anaerobic digestion facilities and advanced depackaging facilities operating across upstate New York and Ontario, Canada, are expected to join Vanguard Renewables’ portfolio, bringing the combined platform to 19 facilities and nearly double Vanguard Renewables’ current operating capacity by adding approximately 565,000 tonnes of food waste processing and 1.1 billion cubic feet of RNG production annually.
The transaction also establishes Vanguard Renewables’ presence in Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations market and creates additional recovery pathways capable of serving larger volumes of organic material across North America.
Landfill diversion represents one of the largest opportunities in the resource recovery market, and scale and integration have become essential to realizing its full potential. By bringing together Vanguard Renewables and Generate Upcycle, we’re creating more recovery pathways for customers, expanding our presence across strategic growth markets in the Northeast and Canada, and providing more reliable, long-term solutions for organic material diversion, said Mike O’Laughlin, CEO of Vanguard Renewables.
