The UK food and drink manufacturing sector could redistribute one billion meals a year by making ‘small improvements’ across the industry, new research finds.
A new report has found that UK food and drink manufacturers could provide more than one billion meals a year to people facing food insecurity by reducing waste, recovering surplus, and reinvesting cost savings.
The Waste Equation report was developed by the consultancy Newton, in partnership with food redistribution charities The Felix Project and FareShare.
A manufacturing waste map produced as part of the report identifies that most food is lost during preparation, operations, quality control, giveaways, changeovers and planning.
The report found that by targeting these six areas, businesses could ‘dramatically reduce waste’ and improve operational efficiency, as well as redistribute one billion additional meals.
Reacting to the report, Charlotte Hill, CEO at The Felix Project and FareShare, said: “Working collaboratively with food manufacturers to reduce waste, recover surplus and reinvest savings to create more meals not only makes commercial sense, it is the right thing to do.”
“That’s why we’re calling on the UK Government to step up, making it easier and more cost-effective for businesses to donate surplus food, instead of it going to lower-value users. This, however, can’t be done by one sector alone – if everyone begins to play their part, we really can make a step change in 2026.”
According to the research, 3% of the 18.5 million tonnes of UK-manufactured food and drink that UK retailers sell each year, around 550,000 tonnes, is wasted.
The report found that 23% of that waste – 128,000 tonnes – could be prevented, saving manufacturers an ‘estimated £326 million’.
16% of surplus that cannot be cost-effectively prevented – 89,000 tonnes – could be recovered for redistribution by frontline charities, the report says.
Finally, the report found that reinvesting the £326 million in savings at the lowest marginal manufacturing cost could generate a further 657 million meals.
Tim Murray, Partner at Newton, commented: “This report shows that no single organisation can solve the waste problem on its own.”
“By collaborating across the wider supply chain – sharing expertise, logistics, storage, and production capacity – we can unlock far more surplus food for those who need it.”