A bumper year of support from Tesco

Every year, Tesco and its customers provide vital support to FareShare, and 2024 is no exception. 

Since launching in 2015, generous Tesco customers donated the equivalent of more than 10 million meals’ worth of food to FareShare via Tesco’s in-store Permanent Collection Points (PCPs) – a milestone we celebrated in February.  There are over 1,800 PCPs in Tesco stores collecting food for FareShare across the UK, enabling customers to donate long-life food, such as tinned vegetables, cereals, and pasta, to FareShare year-round.  

We also celebrated another major milestone in our partnership in June, having redistributed the equivalent of 220 million meals of surplus food together. Food from Tesco stores and distribution centres is prevented from going to waste by redistributing to local charities and community groups via FareShare. Charities then turn those items into food parcels and meals for people in the local community. 

During the summer, Tesco made a generous donation of £500,000 to FareShare to support our work getting food to charities, including those supporting children and families during the summer holidays. Alongside this, Tesco also expanded its pre-packed donation bags to all large stores. The bags were pre-filled with long-life items that customers could pick up, pay at checkout, and donate to FareShare.  

In November, Tesco held its annual Winter Food Collection where customers could volunteer to collect food for FareShare, as well as donating long-life food items to support people in their community. During the three-day event, customers donated 1.9 million meals’ worth of food to FareShare and Trussell, ensuring we can continue getting food to people in the community this winter.  

In addition to the annual food collection, Tesco also pledged to donate 10p to FareShare and Trussell from every gingerbread product sold in the lead up to Christmas.  

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “For the last twelve years, Tesco and its colleagues have pulled out all the stops to provide vital support to FareShare, consistently looking for new and innovative ways to help us get more food to bring people together and strengthen communities this winter.  

“Tesco has made two incredible donations to FareShare at key points throughout the year and this year, we also celebrated two major milestones; redistributing a whopping 220 million meals’ worth of surplus food to charities across the UK, while Tesco customers have also donated 10 million meals’ worth of food via in store collection points.  

“Thank you, Tesco!”