The Mears Foundation’s partnership with The Felix Project and FareShare continues to make a difference in redistributing surplus food to charities and organisations, across the UK.
The Felix Project and FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, taking good quality surplus food and delivering it to frontline charities and community groups. According to their research, around one in four (23%) working parents have had to turn to a food support service in the last 12 months, while 4.6 million tonnes of good food is wasted annually.
Last year, through financial support and time volunteered by Mears colleagues, the partnership enabled the redistribution of over 305 tonnes of food, equating to approximately 728,000 meals on plates for people facing hardship.
Their national logistics network coordinates the movement of food to more than 8,000 charities, every year. Support from the Mears Foundation helped provide additional transport flexibility last year, meaning food could be moved quickly to allow the charity to respond to time-limited supplier offers, ensuring more surplus food could reach communities.
Alongside financial support, Mears colleagues volunteered their time in Tesco stores across the UK in support of FareShare’s Winter Food Collection, as well as over 150 hours of volunteer time to drive vehicles. This hands-on contribution strengthened local supply in Kent, allowing 46,143 meals to be redistributed to 392 charities.
Paul Amadi, Executive Director of Income Generation at The Felix Project and FareShare, said:
“We are so grateful to the Mears Foundation for their continued support to help The Felix Project and FareShare get good-to-eat food to the people who need it rather than it going to waste.
“The charities we supply range from homelessness shelters and refuges, to after school clubs and older people’s lunch clubs. They are on the frontline doing inspirational work and it is thanks to the likes of The Mears Foundation’s that we can strengthen communities and change lives while reducing waste.
“Together, we're creating lasting change, one meal at a time.”
One of the charities that benefits from FareShare’s support is the PHOEBE project. Based in Ipswich, they work to support women and children who have experienced domestic violence and abuse.
The charity’s Maternity and Well-being Advocate and Activities Manager, Hilda, explains that the ability to provide hot meals is a massive benefit to their work in the community. She said:
“Food brings people together. Every time we host an activity, the participants know they’re going to have a good meal prepared.”
The Felix Project and FareShare’s work boasts environmental benefits, too. On average, each tonne of food redistributed preserves around 340,000 litres of water, reflecting the water used to grow, produce and transport that food before it became surplus. The partnership with the Foundation last year preserved an estimated 100+ million litres of water and prevented 610 tonnes of CO2e from waste.
Heather Tyrer, General Manager – Mears Foundation, said:
“The Felix Project and FareShare continue to make a real difference nationwide. This Stop Food Waste Day (Wednesday 29 April), we’re proud to share that our support went further than ever before last year, providing around 30% more meals than the previous year.”
FareShare and The Felix Project is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity and is made up of the two separate organisations. They came together to form a single organisation with greater reach, strength and national impact. Heather added:
“We are excited to be working with the new charity on such an important mission to rescue surplus food and distribute it to the people that need it most. We look forward to continuing building on our successful partnership throughout 2026.”
The Mears Foundation is the charitable arm of Mears Group and supports community-led projects. This initiative is part of the Foundation’s ongoing partnership with the charity and demonstrates their shared commitment to redistributing surplus food across the UK.
For more information about the Mears Foundation, visit https://www.themearsfoundation.org.uk/.
