Waitrose has announced that, as of February 2025, it has diverted the equivalent of 25 million meals from surplus food, delivered from over 300 stores and distribution centres, to people in need through FareShare.
The retailer has committed to halving food waste in its operations and supply chains by 2030, and helping customers do so at home by the same date. The partnership with FareShare is fundamental in helping divert surplus food from branches and distribution centres and saving it from becoming waste.
2024 was Waitrose’s best year ever for surplus redistribution in terms of volume, driven by increased donations from stores and building upon a long-standing partnership with FareShare. Since 2017, Waitrose has worked closely with FareShare, donating 25,439,334 meals by the end of January 2025. In 2024 alone, 6,097,210 meals were donated, representing 2,561 tonnes of surplus food and saving 5,140 tonnes of CO2 while supporting 3,971 charities.
To further enhance its ‘FareShare Go’ model, Waitrose has integrated OLIO, a free app that helps people share surplus food within their local communities, enabling OLIO Food Waste Heroes to rescue surplus food where FareShare is unable to collect.
Marija Rompani, director of ethics & sustainability, John Lewis Partnership, said: “Not only are we incredibly proud that our partnership with FareShare has helped drive down food waste, but we’re pleased to be able to support those in our communities who need help and need access to nutritious food. 25 million meals is a huge milestone and we can’t wait to see it go further.”
Simon Millard, Director of Food at FareShare said: “We’re incredibly grateful for our partnership with Waitrose. Their support has enabled us to provide 25 million meals worth of good-to-eat surplus food to our network of 8,000 charities across the UK. These charities, from afterschool and breakfast clubs to hospices and homelessness shelters, transform meals into support, strengthening communities and changing lives across the UK. Thank you to everyone at Waitrose for reaching this milestone.”
On top of diverting the equivalent of 25 million meals from surplus food, Waitrose is helping combat food poverty in the UK by providing surplus pasta to FareShare as part of the Coronation Food Project. Working with its own-brand pasta supplier, Daybreak, Waitrose will divert approximately 130 tonnes of surplus pasta per year – the equivalent of 350,000 meals – to FareShare.
Further down the supply chain, Waitrose is working with suppliers to analyse whole supply chain waste and identify food waste hotspots. Where surplus food is identified, Waitrose is exploring opportunities to divert it to charities to redistribute to those in need.
