Mason McNeill - Rerouting America's Food Waste, One Grocery Store at a Time

Most people don't think much about what happens to the food that doesn't get sold. Mason McNeill does. As Chief Commercial Officer at Denali, the nation's largest organics recycler, he's spent his career building the systems that catch that material before it hits a landfill and put it back to work.Denali runs routes to grocery stores and food producers across all of the lower 48, collecting food waste and organic residuals and routing them to recycling facilities where they become compost, animal feed, fertilizer, or renewable fuel. Mason breaks down how that circular chain actually functions, including the part most people don't see: you need customers on both ends. Someone has to send the material, and someone has to want what comes out the other side. Keeping that balance is a big part of his job.He also gets into depackaging technology, one of the more practical breakthroughs changing what's possible in organics diversion. Manually separating food from packaging used to be slow, inconsistent, and a contamination risk. The equipment that handles it now has made it possible to take on waste streams that weren't workable before. And looking ahead, Mason is clear-eyed about how much is still left to build. Landfill costs are rising. Communities across the country are asking hard questions about what's going into the ground. The infrastructure to answer those questions at scale is still catching up. He doesn't frame that as a problem so much as a direction.Episode in a glance00:10 Denali and organics recycling01:03 Inside Denali and what a Chief Commercial Officer actually does03:48 The current state of organics recycling and Denali's strategy to lead it05:52 Serving customers on both sides of the circular supply chain09:54 How depackaging technology is unlocking more food waste diversion14:08 Looking ahead at landfill diversion, infrastructure, and grassroots momentumAbout Mason McNeillMason McNeill is the Chief Commercial Officer at Denali, the nation's largest organics recycler, where he leads customer relationships, sales, and infrastructure growth across the country. He holds degrees in finance, accounting, and history from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and began his career at Stephens, a leading investment banking firm, advising private and family-owned companies on accessing capital markets. His work at Denali centers on building the infrastructure and partnerships needed to divert organic material from landfills and return it to productive use as animal feed, fertilizer, compost, and renewable energy.Connect with Mason McNeill and his workMason McNeill on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonbmcneillDenali Website → https://www.denalicorp.com/Send us a message!