Turning Surplus into Support: Co-op and TBBT’s Fresh Take on Food Redistribution

In 2024, Co-op partnered with food redistribution charity The Bread and Butter Thing (Bread and Butter) to pioneer a new initiative focused on reducing food waste and tackling food insecurity. Building on their long-standing relationship, the trial launched at Co-op’s Lea Green distribution centre targeted surplus items that were previously difficult to redistribute, such as mislabelled products, near-expiry stock, and best-before items, ensuring they reached the people who needed them most.

By creating a fast, efficient process between depot stock controllers and Bread and Butter’s agile logistics team, food was identified overnight and collected the next day. This streamlined approach enabled an extra 37 tonnes of surplus to be redistributed from Lea Green alone in 2024, a third more than the previous year, delivering a total of 184,000 kg of food and providing over 400,000 meals.

The initiative showcases the power of collaboration in creating scalable, sustainable change. It not only helped Co-op move surplus up the food waste hierarchy, from anaerobic digestion to human consumption, but also gave low-income families better access to fresh, nutritious food. With plans to replicate the model across more sites in 2025.