Over the past decade, food redistribution has grown rapidly, with major organisations now rescuing tens of thousands of tonnes of surplus each year and delivering hundreds of millions of meals.
But momentum is slowing, and the sector warned that without stronger incentives, much of the edible surplus in the UK will remain out of reach.
With France’s landmark food-waste legislation now established, there is attention on whether a similar model could unlock the UK’s untapped potential.
The Garot Law
In 2016, France passed what became known as Loi Garot, named after MP Guillaume Garot who championed the reform.
Under this law, large supermarkets (those with over 400 square meters of sales area) are legally required to donate food that is still fit for consumption to charitable organisations, rather than destroying it.
In 2018, the law was extended. Mass catering operations (preparing more than 3,000 meals a day) and food manufacturers with over €50 million in annual turnover were also brought under its remit, with a corresponding ban on the deliberate destruction of unsold food.
The Garot Law is not purely punitive. France has complemented its obligations with financial incentives, offering tax breaks for businesses that redistribute surplus.
The state of food redistribution in the UK
According to industry figures, over 191,000 tonnes of surplus food were redistributed in 2023 in the UK. That equates to roughly 456 million meals.
Within that, the charitable sector handled about 140,000 tonnes, accounting for 73% of total redistributed surplus.
It’s often assumed that grocery retailers are the main culprits when food is wasted, but in reality, they are among the more efficient parts of the chain when it comes to redistributing edible surplus. Many retailers have proactive prevention strategies and established partnerships.
The bigger challenge lies upstream. Bulk surpluses arise on farms, within food manufacturing and in hospitality.
Retail remained the largest single source, with approximately 43% of all redistributed food coming from retailers, and nearly half of the food received by charities originating in store.
Yet, even with this growth, the scale of untapped edible food waste remains enormous.
Estimates suggested around 4.6 million tonnes of edible food is wasted each year across the UK supply chain. According to WRAP, approximately 465,000 tonnes of that surplus is “easily available” for redistribution without needing further processing, enough to supply more than 1.1 billion meals.
And yet, the charitable redistribution sector currently reaches only about 0.8% of this surplus.
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO of FareShare, the UK’s largest food-redistribution charity, said: “Across the UK, good food is going to waste at a time when far too many people are struggling to put meals on the table.
“Voluntary action alone is no longer keeping pace with the scale of the challenge, and the government has a once in a generation opportunity to bring about change in the Circular Economy and Food strategies.”
Could a French-style law work in the UK?
At first glance, France’s law seems compelling: require large retailers to donate surplus, penalise destruction and reward redistribution with tax breaks.
But UK redistribution bodies cautioned against a direct transplant. Rather than driving genuine prevention, such rules may incentivise surplus production just to meet targets.
Instead, FareShare proposed a more nuanced approach to incentivisation:
- Introduce tax incentives for businesses that redistribute surplus, reducing the financial advantage of alternative disposal routes like anaerobic digestion (AD) or animal feed
- Expand the Surplus Subsidy pilot for farmers, ensuring that producers are rewarded for offering edible surplus rather than discarding or ploughing it in
- Embed redistribution into environmental and land-management schemes, linking it to broader sustainability objectives
- Mandate food-waste reporting across the supply chain, so surplus is more visible
- Provide long-term funding for transport, storage and labour, acknowledging the real-world cost of moving food at scale
Far from opposing regulation, FareShare supported a regulatory baseline – but one paired with strong fiscal incentives. This kind of carrot-plus-stick approach, the charity said, would drive deeper change than a purely voluntary system could.
Gibbon-Walsh added: “Other countries have shown that when you pair strong incentives with sensible regulation, you can unlock far more surplus food and get it to the people who need it.
“With the right policy levers, such as tax incentives and support for farmers, redistribution naturally becomes the default choice for good-to-eat surplus.”
Can charities cope with more donations?
One concern often raised is whether charities have the capacity to absorb a major influx of redistributed food.
On this front, the picture is cautiously optimistic. Redistribution organisations reported that capacity has grown substantially in recent years, thanks to targeted investment.
- FareShare now operates around 34 warehouses, many of which are underused or idle
- The Coronation Food Project, inspired by King Charles III, aims to expand redistribution capacity via a network of regional hubs, enabling the sector to handle more seasonal and farm-based surplus
- The UK government’s Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate Scheme has offered further funding to collecting loose or seasonal surplus
France’s Garot Law offers a useful case study: regulation backed by incentives can move the needle.
But for the UK, copying that law would not be enough. The real opportunity lies in designing a policy that addresses the supply-chain hotspots – farms, manufacturers and caterers – not just retailers, and that aligns financial incentives with social benefit.
Gibbon-Walsh concluded: “If we get this right, we can build a system where no good food goes to waste, businesses are supported to do the right thing, and millions more meals reach people who need them.
“Every £1 invested in redistribution delivers £13 in social value. This is a huge opportunity, and one the UK cannot afford to ignore.”
Find out about the challenges and opportunities surrounding food waste prevention, recovery and circularity at the National Food Waste Conference in London on 19 March 2026. Register your interest here.
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