Morrisons, one of the UK’s leading grocery retailers, has expanded its commitment to combat food waste and address food poverty through a strategic partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare and consulting firm Newton.

The move builds on Morrisons’ existing efforts to reduce food surplus, a growing concern in light of increasing food insecurity in the UK. According to The Food Foundation, 15% of UK households are food insecure, affecting around 8 million adults and 3 million children.

As part of this initiative, Newton used its expertise in operational complexity to help Morrisons recover surplus produce from its manufacturing sites, beginning with the Flaxby facility, which processes all of the retailer’s carrots and onions.

The recovered food will be redirected to FareShare, ensuring that edible surplus is used to provide meals for those in need rather than going to waste. This collaboration has already yielded impressive results, with Morrisons and FareShare redistributing over 13 million meals since 2017.

Morrisons is taking this effort further by pledging 500,000 meals to the Coronation Food Project, and expanding their surplus food collection to new production sites across the country.

Through the partnership, the company aims to address both food waste and carbon emissions, helping to prevent up to 2 tonnes of CO2e and 2.6 million litres of water from going to waste for each tonne of food recovered.

This initiative marks a strategic step for Morrisons in strengthening its sustainability goals while contributing to the national effort to reduce food poverty.

Rami Baitiéh, CEO of Morrisons, said: "Through this partnership, we’re now sending our below specification carrots (that are perfectly good to eat) to FareShare centres, where they are sorted for those in need. This important initiative complements our ongoing work with other excellent charities, who help redistribute surplus food from our manufacturing sites."

Steve Wilson, Senior Partner of Consumer at Newton added: "As a strategic delivery partner, Newton is proud to play a key role in redistributing food to those in need. The UK food supply chain is a complex ecosystem, spanning from farmers to stores and consumers, with rigorous standards and tight timings."