Food redistribution charities FareShare & The Felix Project to merge
Every year, the UK wastes 10.7 million tonnes of food while 14% of UK households live with food insecurity. With demand rising and eight in ten charities fearing they cannot keep up, the duo says combining forces now will support rescuing more food, cutting more waste and reaching more people.
FareShare and The Felix Project are uniting to form a bigger and more ambitious organisation with greater national impact. The merger means they will be able to pool resources, become more efficient and create a joined-up solution to tackling food waste.
The merger will also give the two charities a stronger voice when it comes to campaigning and influencing national policy on food waste and food insecurity. This was demonstrated by the success of their joint campaign for a national £15m fund to tackle food surplus on farms.
The Felix Project was started in 2016 by Justin and Jane Byam Shaw in memory of their son Felix. It has four depots in North, South, East and West London, which currently support around 1,200 community organisations.
Charlotte Hill OBE, chief executive of the new organisation, said: “Our vision is a nation where no good food is wasted and nobody goes hungry. Bringing together brilliant colleagues, volunteers and partners from both organisations gives us an unprecedented opportunity to scale up food provision for the UK’s most vulnerable communities.”
Through its 17 independent regional partners, including The Felix Project in London, FareShare works with the food industry to rescue good-to-eat surplus food and get it to over 8,000 charities nationwide. In 2024/25, this network helped provide the equivalent of 148m meals.
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, deputy chief executive of the new organisation, added: “This merger will enable us do so much more to tackle food waste at source, whilst we continue to support our brilliant independent network partners through increased food volumes, funding and operational support. We will also build on FareShare’s 30-year legacy of connecting good food with communities nationwide.”
The new charity will adopt the Felix name, with a refreshed brand identity introduced gradually as part of a phased transition, including a period of dual branding.