Felix, City Harvest and The Bread and Butter Thing among the redistributors joining forces on governance, programme management, food sourcing, logistics and allocation
Leading redistributors have signed a new covenant to treble food redistribution in the UK over the next decade.
The pledge is part of the larger national programme to redistribute surplus food, which was announced by former PM Keir Starmer in May 2026 after the King’s Speech.
It is estimated that the equivalent of more than one billion meals of easily accessible, edible food goes to waste in the UK food and drink manufacturing sector, according to a report by Newton, in partnership with The Felix Project and FareShare (now know jointly as Felix).
Redistributors Felix, City Harvest, The Bread and Butter Thing, Community Shop, Feeding Britain, His Church, Neighbourly, and Xcess Network are among those who have signed the covenant, which is also supported by Trussell, an anti-poverty charity and community of food banks.
The covenant sets out a shared approach to governance, programme management, food sourcing, logistics and allocation, enabling charities and community food redistributors to collaborate to secure and redistribute more surplus food.
Richard Humphrey, director of operations from His Church, said: “The covenant will focus efforts for all of us on incrementally increasing existing sources and securing new sources of food.”
It also comes as recent heatwaves across Europe have triggered discussions around food security and resilience and the need for long-term strategies from the government.
Humphrey added: “There has genuinely never been a more important time for surplus food to be redistributed for the good of our people and our planet.”
However, Matthew van Duyvenbode, co-CEO of Trussell, added: “It is hugely important that one of the first commitments is ensuring food redistribution is not seen as a way to solve food insecurity. We believe this work must be accompanied by policies that tackle the root causes of poverty, hunger and hardship, and there is real power in this group collectively supporting those efforts.”
Funding for the pledge will be used to improve and develop existing redistribution infrastructure rather than creating a new system, according to City Harvest CEO Richard Gammage.
Other objectives are to lessen the environmental consequences of food waste. Steve Butterworth, CEO of giving platform Neighbourly said: “Food waste is a huge environmental issue, between six and seven per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste.
“By reducing it, we are not only cutting the amount of harmful greenhouse gases released by rotting food, but ensuring the resources put into growing, picking, packing and transporting that food are not needlessly wasted.”
There are hopes the pledge will bring groups together to lobby on behalf of the sector with one, unified voice. Gary Stott from Community Shop said: “Having a joined-up approach to creating change is key. This is the first time the charitable and community food redistribution organisations have come together on this scale, and it is a clear demonstration of our collective belief and commitment to finding new and sustainable ways to increase the amount of perfectly good surplus food that is being redistributed and used to support people and communities.”
