Waste not…

Practical ideas and useful links to help you reduce food waste, share surplus food and put gluts and extra produce to good use in Somerset.

Waste less in your home

We all need to play our part in reducing the food that is wasted.

Love Food, Hate Waste is an online movement dedicated to supporting people to reduce their household food waste. They have numerous resources, including recipes, food storage advice, and guidance on how to use up all of your food — “compleating”. Follow them on facebook for regular updates and inspiration.

Apps to help you reduce your food waste

Use your phone to keep track of what you have, use food before it goes off, and find ideas for making the most of it.

  • Kitche — track the food you have, with tips, recipes and rewards.

  • NOSH — track your food expiry dates.

Courgettes and climbing beans growing together in an allotment bed.

Share surplus food

If you have surplus food, whether from a garden, allotment, growing project or business, there may be a local project able to make good use of it.

Community fridges

The Frome Community Fridge launched in 2016 and was the first in the UK. The fridge team continue to collect surplus food and maintain their fridges, allowing the redistribution of surplus food to local residents.

Community fridges are volunteer-led initiatives that provide an accessible space for surplus food to be stored and collected by the public. They both reduce food waste and increase access to food in communities.

  • Hubbub — information and advice on setting up a community fridge.

  • Food for Charities also has a guide and sample paperwork, such as cleaning and risk-assessment materials.

  • Search the Food Resilience Map for established community fridges and pantries across Somerset.

Courgettes and climbing beans growing together in an allotment bed.
Courgettes and climbing beans growing together in an allotment bed.

Food share schemes

Felix (Formerly FareShare) runs a network of food redistribution across the UK. The nearest hub is in Bristol, serving northern areas of Somerset. It collects surplus food from larger retailers and delivers it to community projects, including food pantries and food banks.

It offers a paid-for delivery service for members, as well as opportunities to collect free surplus food directly from local supermarkets through FareShare Go.

OLIO is a free food-sharing system which helps businesses, including supermarkets, distribute unsold food that would otherwise be disposed of. It rehomes items within local communities. Supplies must be reserved and collected through the app.

You can:

  • Volunteer as a Food Waste Hero, collecting larger hauls of unsold food from supermarkets at designated times.

  • Volunteer as a Community Hero and encourage neighbours to join the movement.

  • Register a food business as a zero-food-waste business. Following a consultation, local Food Waste Heroes will help redistribute its surplus.

Too Good To Go is another app for reducing food waste. Businesses and restaurants list surplus food at heavily discounted prices, although you will not know exactly what you will receive until collection.

It is easy to register your business, and because you enter your estimated surplus before you start, there is no ongoing commitment. You can adjust it if anything changes.

Donate your gluts and surplus

Community groups and projects, such as fridges, pantries and community meal providers, can make use of fresh food surplus; gardeners, allotment holders and growing projects have gluts of produce and want to find a good home for it. We ask growers with food surplus to contact projects directly to arrange to donate their produce.

We have collected and shared information on groups across Somerset who can utilise surplus for a number of years and we are just updating this resource - contact us if you wish to be added.

Food-surplus directory PDFs

Please also use the Somerset Food Resilience Map to locate community food projects, including fridges, pantries and food banks, which may be able to use your surplus produce.

Grow, glean & give

If you can grow, gather or donate extra fresh food, there are ways to make sure it reaches people who can use it.

Abundance and gleaning

Every autumn, apples rot on the ground, hedgerows fill with fruit and some people grow more food than they can eat and good food goes to waste. The aim is therefore to capture this surplus and re-distribute it - harvest the bounty and give it to those that need it most. Fruit can be pressed into juice, made into jams and pickles or sold loose at reduced rates to local families who otherwise would not have access to fresh fruit.

Gleaning is the act of gathering leftover crops from farmers' fields and you need:

  1. Connections to local farmers with surplus

  2. Availability of enthusiastic volunteers who can quickly gather the excess

  3. Organisations who can utilise donations of fresh produce

  4. The following resources will help you get started:

Gleaning in Somerset

FareShare South West is a local, independent charity that collects food waste and brings it to those who need it in the south west, turning an environmental problem into lasting social good. Working directly with farmers, growers, and their team of volunteers, they rescue fresh fruit and veg that might otherwise go to waste. They would love to speak to any growers who have surplus food which could be gleaned. Please email: tony.coletto@faresharesouthwest.org.uk

Plus grown an extra row

If you are group or individual with capacity to grow extra produce, we would encourage you to support projects tackling increasing food insecurity across Somerset. You can use this page to find groups who can make use of your produce.

We know of 2 brilliant examples of community groups growing produce to donate directly to their community:

Related resources

Last reviewed: Sept 2026

Food-surplus directories, recipient details and external services can change. Contact a project directly before donating food, and check current information with the relevant organisation.